Sports
Are we ready for Ghana 2023?
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
The aforementioned statement – made by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States – clearly underpins the importance of preparation.
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hardwork and learning from failure. Indeed, it is said that behind every brilliant performance there were countless hours of practice and preparation.
So, we have less than two years to hosting the continent’s biggest multi-sport festival – African Games; yet we cannot see any real preparation towards the event.
We were told that a new 50,000-capacity stadium was to be constructed for the 2023 African Games at Borteyman in the Greater Accra Region – with an amount of $200 million (£152 million/ €168 million) already earmarked for the project.
The President himself was thrilled by the fact that Ghana was going to have such facility which would include multi-purpose sports halls for all indoor sports, aquatic centres for swimming and tennis courts among others.
“Presently, none of the sports stadia in Ghana meets the required standard for continental games. It is, thus, necessary to construct appropriate sports facilities in the country that will be able to host the 25 sporting disciplines from the African Games,” President Nana Akufo-Addo said.
It is true that we do have the requisite facility to host the Games and the President could not have hammered it home better.
However, from the foregoing, many are beginning to cast doubt about the early completion of the project and by extension, the nation’s readiness to host the continent.
Interestingly, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 2023 Africa Games, Dr Kweku Ofosu Asare, has reiterated Ghana’s readiness to host the Games.
He said works were progressing steadily to ensure that the country hosted a successful competition, adding that the government was committed and fully behind the Committee to organise a flawless event.
Aside the infrastructural challenges, we expect selected athletes from the respective medal-pumping disciplines to be sent intermittently on training programmes abroad to prepare them ahead of the 2023 Games. That exposure is extremely important.
That is the only way we can expect to win medals.
Cote d’Ivoire performed creditably well at the African Games in Morocco, picking five gold medals as against two by Ghana simply because they prepared better. Their feat did not pop up from nowhere! Years of investment and quality preparations paid off.
Four weightlifters were supposed to have gone for the Tokyo Olympic qualifiers in Kenya this week, but the trip had to be postponed because the Federation thought it was waste of funds since only one of them – Forrester Osei, had made it to the Games per the recent ranking by the World Weightlifting Federation (WWF).
Ideally, the rest should have been allowed to compete in the qualifiers, having trained vigorously ahead of the trip in which they had three domestic trials.
For sure, we know we cannot host and win! That is incontestable. However, we have got to put up a remarkably gleaming performance and garner home, perhaps, our biggest haul of medals in the Games history.
It is achievable! It is doable!
But the sector ministry must sit up and draw up an efficacious strategy as they seriously engage eggheads of the various potential medal-winning disciplines in the scheme of things – and chart the way forward.
We ought to get it right, this time around! No excuses!
Let us burn the candle at both ends now because 2023 is going to be more fiercely competitive than what was witnessed in Morocco.
The media have made it clear that they are ever ready to support the sports ministry, the National Sports Authority (NSA) and its associations to achieve their targets; but would not hesitate to whip them into line when they go off-course!
Once again, let the preparations start now!
We need more international competitions for our various athletes; that is the only way they can be in fine fettle for the onerous assignment ahead!
If South Africa wins many medals in Tokyo, we should not be surprised. Their team to the 2019 world university games was bigger than Ghana’s team to African Games. South Africa was 10th on the medals table, meeting some of the emerging names who show up at subsequent Olympics as winners. Already, some of their athletes made Olympic qualification time.
So before Tokyo, the State has invested in their preparation and test of medals potential. We have hammered on this over and over again but it is almost always fallen on deaf ears.
We set unimaginably high targets for our athletes with huge, cyclopean prizes to go with it when deep down our hearts we know they are not achievable!
Limpidly, you do not reap where you have not sown! Things do not work like that! The theatrics are increasingly becoming an eyesore now.
PlainTalk with JOHN VIGA
Ghana Premier League side, Nations FC, may have suffered the drop in the just ended Premier League and are destined for a fresh campaign in the Division One League (DOL).
But they stand a huge chance of remaining in the elite stage of the game as they face Dreams FC in an epic MTN FA Cup final at the University of Ghana Sports Stadium tomorrow at 6pm.
Dreams FC have been there before; going ahead to taste the honours in the 2022-23 season after defeating King Faisal.
Coming from a season that saw them crawl from the initial stages of the league to finish on a respectable fourth position, they come in as strong favourites to double their honours in the nation’s second top football competition.
History favours them in this regard. On their first final, they conquered and based on this, connoisseurs of the game have tipped them to make it ‘two-on-two.’
But Nations FC have been empowered by the age-old adage that “He that is down need fear no fall.”
Nothing can be worse than suffering relegation and exiting the limelight as far as exposure is concerned.
But the FA offers a decent opportunity to make them stay relevant.
Conquering Dreams FC would not just make them MTN FA Cup champions. It will grant them the prestigious slot to represent Ghana in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) second tier club competition- the Confederations Cup.
With Dreams FC harbouring the same ambitions, the stage is, therefore, set for a final that promises to be explosive and uncompromising.
The situation of Nations FC might have come to many as a surprise, considering their promising start to the season, with their defence especially, marshalled by Black Stars defender, Razak Simpson, and colleague central defender, Raymond Grippman, earning a lot of reviews.
But despite the struggles they endured at certain times of their campaign, the MTN FA Cup always provided slices of good fortunes as they managed to navigate their way to the final.
Road to the top
Nations FC began the MTN FA Cup competition on a promising note, enjoying some good runs with a win over DOL Zone Two side, Ebony FC, in the Round of 64.
That landed them in a tricky encounter with another high-flying Zone Two candidate, AshantiGold SC, a side that eventually won the title from the zone to qualify to the Premier League, but escaped.
At the round of 16 stage, they encountered and defeated Ghana Premier League side, Swedru All Blacks, 2-1 to gain progression to the quarter final stage where they edged Berekum Chelsea on penalties.
A dicey semi-final awaited them against Aduana FC in Swedru. It was a game Nations was given little chance to escape considering Aduana FC’s form but once again, they conquered to secure a final berth.
In total, the Abrankese-based club have scored eight goals and conceded only two throughout the competition, making them one of the strongest defensive sides in the tournament.
For Dreams FC, they defeated Division One League Zone Three side, Semper Fi, 2-1 to progress to the next stage of the competition where they accounted for Division Two side, Asanska FC, 2-0.
That handed them a quarterfinal berth where they faced Inter Allies and drew one all before winning 4-3 on penalties.
The happiest moment in their success story was a 3-2 semi-final win over GPL winners, Medeama SC.
With that feat, Dreams have been touted as potential winners as the match comes at a time the Nations FC side may be psychologically down over the weight of the challenge they face in the next season.
However, the competition has gain notoriety for not following any form guide and outcomes mostly coming as major surprises.
In this regard, Dreams may be tipped as favourite candidates but though Nations are wounded, the stakes could revive an insatiable desire to apply the brakes to turn the dreams of Dreams FC into a nightmare.
Support
The support from MTN Ghana has no doubt improved competition among the clubs with the attractive incentive packages for participating clubs.
MTN Ghana, which is celebrating 30 years of operations in Ghana, formally became headline sponsors of the Ghana FA Cup in the 2010/2011 football season after the competition had returned from an eight-year hiatus.
The first edition under MTN sponsorship was won by Nania FC, who defeated Asante Kotoko 1–0 in the final at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Since then, the competition has been known as the MTN FA Cup, with MTN renewing its sponsorship several times — in 2013, 2017, 2020 and again for subsequent seasons.
By Andrew Nortey
The Black Stars have opened camp in Cardiff ahead of next week’s international friendly against Wales.
The team is being taken through training drills by head coach Carlos Queiroz.
Thirteen players trained at Dragon Park on Monday, with others expected to join the squad on Tuesday.
They include Ernest Nuamah, Brandon Thomas-Asante, Jordan Ayew, Caleb Yirenkyi, Abdul Fatawu Issahaku, Elisha Owusu, Gideon Mensah, Marvin Senaya, Jerome Opoku, Benjamin Asare, Joseph Anang, Solomon Agbasi, and Alidu Seidu.
The Black Stars will train in Cardiff for one week ahead of the international friendly against Wales on Tuesday, June 2, before traveling to the United States of America.
Coach Carlos Queiroz will use the period to assess his players before naming his final squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
Twenty-six players will be submitted to FIFA on Monday, June 1, as mandated by the competition regulations.
The Black Stars are drawn in Group L with Panama, England, and Croatia. They will open their World Cup campaign against Panama on June 17 in Toronto before facing England and Croatia in their other group matches.
