Sports
Nothing but the ‘Holy Grail’
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If we play politics with our game; if we press the friends-and-cronies button, if we do things to solely suit our whims and caprices in place of real professionalism, our football will continue to languish in anguish.
Last week, one was stunned to hear Chief Coach of the Black Stars, CK Akonnor, say that winning the next African Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy was not his focus.
He said he was rather concerned about building a strong, winsome team for the nation, to take on the best of the world.
Perhaps, there might be nothing wrong about that.
However, that was what his predecessor, Akwasi Appiah, was doing before he took over. Nothing really emerged from those fervid years of endeavour in team-building; if anything at all, the Stars crashed out disgracefully in the first round at the Brazil 2014 World Cup and also got booted out at the Round of 16 stage at the 2019 AFCON in Egypt.
That is why Ghanaians are fed up with this re-building bunk. Indeed, Black Stars is not an academy! When players are fading off, what you do is replace them with fresh exciting limbs – and there we go!
Akonnor has stated he was going to invite some good quality materials to revamp the senior national team. He should go ahead, because that is the way to go. We have nothing against him if only his invitees are worth their salt. We would not compromise on quality. Whichever material is brought in must be something that should potently power home the grand agenda – win the ‘Holy Grail’ for Ghana.
What long-suffering Ghanaians want now is nothing but AFCON glory.
Nothing less!
Is it not upsetting and disconcerting that when Ghana won its fourth Nations Cup in 1982, Cameroon had not even set eyes on the coronet for once? Today, the Cameroonians have made it number five!
In the same vein, the Pharaohs of Egypt had lifted the trophy just twice at the time Ghana had captured it for keeps in 1982. Interestingly, the Pharaohs have gone ahead to annex it a staggering five more times.
That is why Ghanaians want the Stars to exorcise the ‘Golden Fleece hoodoo’ that has kept us in the doldrums all this while.
Many of the nation’s youth today are yet to witness Ghana lift the Nations Cup at the senior level. It is a disturbing ignominy. It is a distressing mentation!
Year-in-year-out, we swagger into the continental campaigns with blazing optimism only for our dreams to come crashing into smithereens! Indeed, the last time Ghana felt and held the trophy was in Libya in 1982 – some 38 years ago!
It is as bewildering as pathetic!
A lot of theories have been propounded ostensibly to find out what had gone wrong all these years. Some say it had something to do with hard luck – Cote d’Ivoire having upstaged the Black Stars twice at the lotteries of penalty shoot-out (1992 and 2015), to win their only trophies.
Maybe, it is not about luck. It is about focus; we need total focus. Let us sit, plan effectively and tell our men in battle that we are not returning from Cameroon without the trophy – and the message will sink into their sub-conscience even before they embark on the trip.
Akonnor was appointed only two months after joining the then Appiah-led Ghana technical team as an assistant coach.
Earlier in January, the GFA removed all of its national team coaches, at all levels of the game, including Appiah and all his assistants, which included Appiah’s contract not being renewed.
The FA said the drastic move was “in line with the vision” of its new administration to allow it to evaluate the situation.
The appointment of Akonnor by the Kurt Okraku-FA administration triggered a googol of negative reactions from a section of the public who claimed there was a case of conflict of interest.
Former Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuye also said the GFA’s decision to name Akonnor as the head coach of the Black Stars was tantamount to a conflict of interest, arguing that there was the tendency of the coach serving the interest of the FA President whom many claim is the manager of the former Dreams FC trainer.
Dreams FC is owned by the FA boss who has denied ever managing Akunnor.
Once again, there may be no serious controversy about Akonnor being the former employer of Mr Okraku. But the coach must not be spoon-fed. He must give us the results, ultimately leading to the annexation of the ‘Holy Grail’ that the nation is desperately craving for.
If fetching the next Nations Cup diadem is not his focus, somebody better tell him to rethink it! Certainly, he was not appointed to be an also-ran!
PlainTalk with JOHN VIGAH
Students and management staff were joined by keep fit enthusiasts to partake in the 2026 edition of the Street Academy annual health walk held last Saturday.
It was held on the theme: “Feet on the Street, Hope in Motion.”
The event also brought opinion leaders from some of the Ga communities, sports men and women including former world boxing champion, Joseph Agbeko, and children from the academy and neighbouring communities.
The event was originally slated for July 18 but postponed due to President John Dramani Mahama’s declaration of July 17-18 as National Clean-up Day.
That development did not affect the event in any way as participants, mostly cladded in yellow outfits, turned up in their numbers.
Spurred on by brass band music, the walk went through some of the principal streets of the capital, drawing more crowds from the communities it went through before returning to the Accra Arts Centre, the starting point.
Participants then went through another exhaustive aerobic session before they were refreshed.
Addressing the participants, Dr Ataa Lartey, the Founder and Executive Director of the Academy, commended them for turning out in their numbers for the walk, which he described as an event to enable the children and other guests to exercise.
Secondly, the event, he stated, was also to raise awareness about the plight of needy and underprivileged children, promote healthy living, and advocate the importance of basic education.
By Spectator Sports Reporter
Usually, when a coach is tasked to build a formidable national team for a major tournament, he does so with the best players available to him, with a special focus on local talents.
But where such local talents are not available or are unconvincing, the coach is allowed to supplement with foreign based players.
In this case, these players scouted beyond the borders of the country must be in top form and prove beyond reasonable doubt that they are far better than the locals.
Again, such players must also show some commitment and dedication to the national call.
A coach can however, decide to ignore this system in cases where there is insufficient time for the exercise, when there is a policy that forbids him from inviting certain crop of players, or if he finds himself in a position where he has no say on the players selected for him to use.
Recently, Coach Maxwell Konadu was tasked to build a Black Satellites team for the ongoing WAFU B U-20 championship in Cote d’Ivoire, a tournament which also serves as a qualifier for the 2027 Africa U-20 Championship which Ghana is hosting.
With that status, the Black Satellites become automatic candidates and rightfully, the focus should have been on a team to be groomed for the ultimate.
The sub-regional tournament did not actually oblige Konadu to rely on foreign based players, most of who are on pre-season assignments with their respective clubs.
Also, Konadu was under no misperception about quotas to allot local or foreign based players. It was very clear that the tourney was for the locals.
With this background, he is believed to have selected the players that formed the team that represented Ghana at the championship.
Sadly, Konadu and his boys disappointed woefully at the championship, failing to march his words against performance on the field.
Exiting just after the group stage came with little surprise. That has been the pattern for the national juvenile teams in their respective championships for now.
What left tongues wagging, however, was Konadu’s claim that lessons from the championship would help build a “stronger and more competitive squad for next year’s TotalEnergies CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.”
The confusion lied in his admission that “the squad which competed in Côte d’Ivoire is unlikely to be the same one that represents Ghana at the 2027 TotalEnergies CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.”
It would have made a lot of sense to rather build a team that uses the WAFU B Championships as a platform to prepare for the main championship next year, than selecting a team that in his own words is unlikely to compete.
This is a very common feature in other jurisdictions. The English FA, for instance, would have used an Under-18 team for the WAFU B, knowing the impact that experience would have on the team.
So clearly, the experience and lessons Konadu spoke about would be non-existent and would not help the team in anyway because if he happened to be in charge of the Ghana 2027 championship team, he would be supervising an entirely new team.
From where I sit, Konadu and whoever played any role in assembling this team got everything wrong and must be reminded that there would be no assurances that the next team would excel in the championship.
By Andrew Nortey
