National team coaches need to share ideas – Akonnor
Black Stars coach C.K Akonnor is calling for a system or platform for national team trainers to share ideas and help each other in their line of duty.
The former international, who was named coach of the Ghana senior national team in February 2020, is yet to play any official game following the suspension of football, due to COVID-19.
In an interview with the GFA media team, Akonnor said:
“We need to understand that we must have a set-up which each and every [national] team will follow from top to bottom. So if you’re playing, for instance, 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1, [a system that] the Meteors used during the 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, the journey [of players] to the top will not be long. We must have that understanding because that is what they do out there.
“[National team] coaches must have a relationship so that we can share ideas. We should be able to share ideas because I don’t know it all, they also don’t know it all. We need to help each other. And that is a barrier in-between the coaches, it’s a fact.
“I am open. I want a situation where the national set-up will have that bond in terms of tactical play. Before I got into the national team, I was in the Under-20. Otto Pfister saw me in an international match. The following week he called me into the Black Stars because there were similarities in the style of play and what he needs and it was easier.”
Black Stars identity
“I have a tape of the 1978 squad [and observed] how they played. We will modify it a little bit – that [style] has been my idea.
“It is not about what I want, it’s about the demands of the people and I know the style of play that our people are interested in – we entertain the crowd, play a very constructive football but we have to be efficient at the end of the day because that is what matters most. You play, entertain and you don’t win and you will see what Ghanaians will tell you.
“Ghanaians are passionate about the game. I know what they want and how I can manage to get them what they want is the problem my technical team [has to solve]. And I think we will do this in a very positive way,” Akonnor stated.
