Sports
Blame them all! PlainTalk with John Vigah
It may have been six years now, but the pain and embarrassment of Ghana’s piteously miserable World Cup campaign in Brazil has still not dissipated.
The Black Stars were flushed out in the opening round in a campaign they had been tipped to progress even beyond the quarters.
In the absence of any domestic football activity, many sports presenters have been trying to analyse what really went wrong – with callers pouring out with divergent opinions on the issue.
Truth is that the Stars’ disastrously white-white performance could be attributed to poor team management, governmental naivety and player discipline.
Indeed, government underestimated the situation and failed to respond early enough to the request of the players as regards their $100,000 appearance fee as FIFA also delayed with their obligations.
Sadly, things got out of hand even before the government flew into Brazil $4m dollars to the players ahead of their final Group G game against Portugal.
For the Team Management, they failed dolefully to manage the tension that had engulfed the team’s camp in Brazil, culminating in the physical exchanges between Sulley Muntari and Moses Armah Parker (Management member) as well as the spat between Kevin Prince Boateng and Coach Kwesi Appiah.
At the end of it all, Sulley and Kevin were flushed out of camp with the Stars going ahead to lose 1-2 against Portugal in a game in which skipper Asamoah Gyan scored the equaliser that turned out to be momentous as it crowned him as Africa’s highest scorer in World Cup history.
Now, when you come to the players proper, one would say they just blew up a smart-as-whip opportunity to dazzle the world again.
Fact is, they lost focus and allowed the inordinate thirst for money to blow them into shreds.
Of course, it may not be the way to go; but in both Germany 2006 and South Africa 2010, their appearance fees were paid, albeit late. So, there was nothing to suggest that they were not going to have their money.
It appeared as if the players took their eyes off the ultimate prize. What mattered to them was money, money, money! Nothing more!
Having said that, Coach Appiah, too, cannot be absolved from blame after leading the Stars to that ego-battering 1-2 loss against USA.
In a post-game reaction, he told the media he had deliberately kept some of his best players (including Michael Essien and Kevin-Prince Boateng) on the bench, with the intention of introducing them when the Americans had ran out of steam. Incredible, not so?
You do not do this, especially when the Americans had sworn to “come at you,” having lost to Ghana in previous tournaments (2006, 2010).
It was pathetic to see how a lofty dream could come crashing all because of state botch-up, teammanagement and to a large extent, player discipline.
Lamentably, it was not only the story of Ghana – but that of other West Africa’s biggest hopes at the tournament – Cameroon, Nigeriaand Cote d’Ivoire.
Ghana Premier League leaders, Medeama SC, will welcome Karela United to the TnA Stadium in Tarkwa tomorrow, in a Matchday 20 game with the aim to stretch the lead.
Medeama SC, the 2022/23 champions, are aiming to win the title for the second time in their history and, rightly so, have opened a seven-point gap.
Coach Ibrahim Tanko and his charges have been at their marauding best both home and away, recording 40 points from 19 games.
They go into tomorrow’s game with high hopes of avenging the only defeat suffered this season, which came at the hands of Karela United.
For Karela, who are eighth on the table, a double over the leaders will help their push for a top-four finish this season.
Defending league champions and second-place team, Bibiani Gold Stars, will trek to the Berekum Golden City Park to play as guests of struggling Berekum Chelsea tomorrow, with sight set on closing the gap on the leaders.
The Baba Yara Sports Stadium will come alive as striker Albert Amoah leads his Asante Kotoko side to tackle Basake Holy Stars.
Asante Kotoko have lost three games this season including a painful 2-1 defeat to Holy Stars in the first-round tie.
In other games, the University of Ghana Stadium will today host the Eleven Wonders versus Accra Hearts of Oak match; the Swedru Stadium will host Swedru All Blacks FC and Aduana FC; the Nana Fosu Gyeabour Park in Bechem is venue for Bechem United and Heart of Lions; while the Hohoe Stadium play host to the Hohoe United and Vision FC clash; and the Nsenkyire Sports Arena hosting the Samartex FC versus Nations FC game.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
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It’s less than a week since the 2025 AFCON ended in Morocco.
For those that had the privilege to watch it via television, it may have gone into the competition’s annals as one of the best in terms of organisation.
But for the ‘yen bo biom’ (match abandonment) ‘excellently’ staged by the eventual winners, Senegal’s Terranga Lions, AFCON 2025 was beautifully staged and was incident free.
But in the social media age, it is extremely difficult to get every incident wrapped under a cover of darkness.
Videos showed a mix-up at the goal area of Senegal arising from a towel placed near the goal post by goalkeeper Mendy.
But almost a week after, two countries – eventual winners Senegal and Ghana, a non-participant, are still celebrating the gains from the championship.
Streets of Senegal have been filled with fans who wants to catch a glimpse of their heroes.
The victory marked the second time Senegal have been crowned AFCON champions, having won the competition for the first time in 2022.
Characteristic with teams’ success in Africa, they have been handsomely rewarded.
Senegal president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, has announced that each member of the AFCON winning squad will be awarded a plot of land on the country’s coastline.
Additionally, each player will receive 75 million CFA francs ($134,000; £100,000).
In Ghana, FIFA Referee and Video Assistant Referee (VAR), Daniel Laryea, has become a cult hero with his encouraging performance, especially in the semifinal game between neighbours Nigeria and Morocco.
Last week, this column amply celebrated him and ordinarily, one would expect the focus to shift; and rightly so, the focus is actually not on him but referees of the Ghana Premier League (GPL) whose action, if not sanctioned, could ruin the gains and image credibility Laryea won for Ghana.
A number of clubs have been complaining recently about the state of officiating in the GPL as others threaten to boycott if the situation does not improve.
Kotoko was among the complainants after a decent goal in their game against Gold Stars was disallowed for a very funny reason.
An incident was also reported from Tema where a referee changed a decision to disallow a goal after watching a video of how the goal was scored on a Smart Phone of a fan.
Those reports, the success story of Daniel Laryea and a call by the Vice President of the Ghana Football Association, Mr Mark Addo on referees to aim higher has occasioned this opinion piece, to perhaps remind referees of their responsibilities in making the game attractive in Ghana and the duty of the FA to crack the whip on erring referees.
The FA Vice President, in presenting FIFA badges to 23 Ghanaian referees including Laryea for the 2026 football season, saying that, “I urge you (referees) to keep your heads high. There is a lot of expectation on you, and you must work hard to maintain the standards required”.
He continued: “Aspire for greatness and aim to become world-class referees. How you are perceived when your name comes up matters. Impartiality, fairness and top-class performance must always guide your work.”
In the face of what is happening, Addo’s call was appropriate and straight to the point.
Referees are vital cogs in the football ecosystem and their doing and undoing could make or unmake the efforts put in by a club. What can be more frustrating than a club scoring a genuine goal to be disallowed wrongly?
Many years ago when Asante Kotoko felt cheated and no one listen to them, they staged ‘ye bo biom’ which should not have a place in football. Senegal has just added an international dimension to it.
This is why the FA must sit up and check the names of referees which are becoming synonymous with undesirable officiating against some particular clubs.
By Andrew Nortey
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