Sports
Exorcising the ‘losing demons’ in 2023
● Meteors celebrating a goal against Mozambique in their last game
Ghana football experienced a topsy-turvy ride in the just-ended year, leaving in its wake tears, anguish and despair.
It is not an all-too unfamiliar path for Ghana football, anyway. The nation’s game has for a while suffered a slump, recording results that would easily turn the uninitiated away from the sport.
Last year alone, the national 17 female and male football teams failed to qualify for major continental competitions. The Under-20 female side – Black Princesses, managed to clinch a ticket to the World Cup in India but were hugely humiliated as they lost all games by wider margins.
Our Black Stars did the nation some pride, edging out arch rivals Nigeria to qualify for the recently-ended World Cup in Qatar only to crash out in the opening round – a near replica of their calamitous 2014 first round exit in Brazil.
At club level, the nation’s Gullivers – Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak, were bundled out of their respective continental campaigns as they failed to reach the Money Zone.
Heartily, boxing and athletics stole a medicum of glory with five medals at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games – the pugilistic sport snatching three medals. It was quite worth celebrating, especially when only one medal was won in the previous quadrennial sporting festival in Australia.
This month – specifically from January 13, Ghana’s locally-assembled stars known as the Black Galaxies, will be representing the country at the now-popular Championship of African Nations (CHAN) tournament in Algeria, having been flung into a taxing group that consists of Morocco, Madagascar and the Sudan.
It is the team’s fourth championship but so far has nothing to shown for honour despite having finished second in the competition’s maiden even held in Cote d’Ivoire as far back as 2009.
This term, the Galaxies have demonstrated strong intent of winning the trophy for the first time, signals that were picked from their preparatory games – after eliminating rivals Nigeria in the final qualifier.
Camped in Egypt to sharpen their arsenal for battle, the Galaxies last week thrashed Egyptian club giants 3-1 in a dominant performance, having earlier accounted for Egypt’s national Under-20 team 2-0.
With the mood in the country quite low and despairing, we can only count on the spangling ‘local boys’ to restore the smiles on the faces of Ghanaians following the disappointment of the Black Stars in Qatar.
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) must do its damnedest to ensure that we exorcise the demons of defeat that has haunted the nation’s passion and this should start with success at the Algeria CHAN tournament.
Having showed such strong promise in the series of games they have played – right from the qualifiers to this stage, all that the Galaxies need now is self-confidence. The team must believe in themselves; have the assurance that they can conquer all that cross their path.
That intrinsic motivation and those coming from the GFA and the government should be enough to do the trick.
By John Vigah
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.
