Last Friday, Ghana’s Black Stars were held to a goalless draw by the Cranes of Uganda at the Tamale Sports Stadium. The game was the first match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, scheduled to take place in far away Russia.
From every nook and cranny of the country, fans were expecting nothing less than a win, with at least two goals in favour of the Black Stars, but alas, the Black Stars could only manage a goalless draw, to the huge disappointment of Ghanaians.
Right from the blast of the whistle, the Ugandans held the ball and looked a more formidable side, making occasional incursions into the danger zone of the Black Stars. It took Ghana about half-an-hour to get into the game and create some decent chances, which the players failed to utilise.
Many people have talked about the abysmal performance of the senior national team, ascribing one reason or the other as the cause of its poor showing.
To us, at The Chronicle, the earlier managers of the senior national team put their houses in order and addressed the problems leading to the recent poor showing of the team, the better it would be for all of us.
It is undeniable fact that the major problem that affected the Black Stars in the Tamale fixture was the rift between the Ghana Football Association (GFA) boss, Kwesi Nyantekyi, and the Sports Minister, Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuije.
When Nii Lantey Vanderpuije was mentioned as the one who was to take over the Sports Ministry, many football fans felt that his presence at the Ministry would streamline the management of the national teams, especially the Black Stars. Unfortunately, in his attempt to rein in our football administrators, and ensure the judicial use of our resources, he has rather exacerbated the situation.
Since the former sports commentator’s unsavory comment such as “I know of a mafia at the FA”, the football sector has seen no peace, and the earlier an amicable solution was found to address the issue, the better. As the adage goes, ‘When two elephants fight it is the grass that suffers,’ they should think more of Ghana and less of themselves and their parochial interests, as to who rules or who defeated who?
It’s not only The Chronicle which thinks that the poor showing of the Black Stars at Tamale was a result of the bad blood between Nyantekyi and Vanderpuije, the two men who are supposed to jointly manage the team.
The Tamale Naa, Dakpema Mohammed Alhassan, has also added his voice to the call on the two officials heading the GFA and the Sports Ministry to bury the machete, team up, and work towards a common goal – to get the Black Stars back on its feet.
According to Naba Dakpema, the proper steps would have been taken to ensure Ghana’s victory in the match, had he, and his elders, been informed earlier.
“In fact, yesterday I was very sad, because we were unable to take victory… I would have wished to be informed earlier about the game, so I could pray well for the victory,” Naa Dakpeman pointed out.
Information available to The Chronicle indicates that the match was moved to Tamale after poor attendance in previous matches at the Kumasi and Accra stadia.
According to the information, initially, the game was not going to be played at Tamale, but after deliberating on the poor attendance of the Black Stars matches in Accra and Kumasi, they decided to change the venue at the last hour, which came in too late.
We gathered that it did not go down well with the managers of the stadium, who had to work overtime to get the pitch ready for the game. Even though, much work was put into getting the pitch ready for the game, the players and the coach said the pitch was not good enough.
The weather condition did not help, as it was not favourable, not only to the Black Stars players, but also to their opponents from Uganda. It is, therefore, clear that the match did not go the way Ghanaians expected, because of poor planning and Minister and GFA rift. How long should we sit down for this to continue?
We shall return to this subject soon!
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