• Otto Addo – Stars’ Chief Coach

Ghana football has had a bitter-sweet, topsy-turvy ride, this term.

From the Cameroon Nations Cup fiasco in January to the eye-catching Black Stars’ Qatar 2022 World Cup qualification in March, one cannot say the upshot has been that disastrous, albeit we had the Black Starlets (national male U-17 team), Black Maidens (national female U-17) and the Black Satellites (national U-20 team), all failing to pick tickets for their respective campaigns.

We could still end the year on a high should the Black Stars jet into top gear in Qatar and make Ghanaians proud by gleaming beyond the quarter final berth they deservedly struck at the South Africa 2010 Mundial.

It is achievable when well planned.

However, one thing that has haunted down our game over the years is the lack of commitment, loyalty and show of nationalism in the national teams – with some of our players feeling it is their birth right to don the national jersey. Such players are all-too ready to cry wolf and make trouble at the slightest faux pas.

As we prepare inch-by-inch towards Qatar, our national team selectors must ensure we dig up players who are ready to fight for the national colours – aside from carving a niche for themselves and African football.

We need players who would play as champions – demonstrating lots of passion and desire; and be prepared to die on the pitch rather than throw up hands in utter despair. This, one has hammered over and over again.

Heartily, a good number of the present Ghana contingent has copiously demonstrated some great derring-do and a character that suggest they can defend the national flag with their last drop of blood. This was evidenced on their way to showing Nigeria the throbbing exit in the World Cup play-off.

That is the way to go!

One department that has been of great concern to most Ghanaians is the forwardline – and our technical team headed by Otto Addo and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) must be commended for trying to find a way of cutting that Gordian knot.

This, they have done by wooing a couple of players including Spanish-born Atletic Bilbao Ghanaian forward Inaki Williams Arthur, to switch nationality for Ghana. Inaki is a pure terror in attack who would give opposing defence real torture to deal with and we may have been privileged to get him into our fold.

Several failed attempts by the GFA to convince him to switch nationality in the past, hit a snag. Though Ghana qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and needed him badly, he still turned his back on the Stars.

It is the reason one would not agree with some Ghanaians who claim the Atletico Bilbao goal-hunter is an opportunist and only switched nationality because he wanted to be at the World Cup.

Predictably, settling on the final squad for the Qatar World Cup would be a Herculean undertaking for the coach. However, once that is sorted out, all we need from the players is hunger and desire on the field. When that is fully advertised, the waning confidence of the public would be restored, doubtless.  Ghanaians want to see the players approach every game as a final – grand finale.

This is the same attitude, we would expect the Princesses – who are preparing for the Under-20 World Cup in Costa Rica next month, to exhibit; not forgetting the Black Galaxies.

The Galaxies are expected to host Benin next week in the first leg preliminary stage of the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) with the return leg set for Cotonou – three days later.

Should they eliminate their Beninois counterparts in the two-legged fixture, the Ghanaians will cross swords with Nigeria’s Home Eagles in the second round, with the winner securing a spot at Algeria 2023 – next January.

The Home Eagles are hoping to return to the biennial competition after missing out on the last edition hosted by Cameroon.

Information indicates that the Nigerians have stepped up preparations for the qualifier, believing that they would have Ghana to contend with for a place in the Algeria tournament that starts from January 8-31, 2023.

Failure to qualify for the CHAN tournament for the fourth time in succession would be too much a bitter pill to swallow for Ghana – the Galaxies having missed out in the last three tournaments.

We must not miss the boat to Algeria and everything must be done to ensure the deal is well struck.

It is gratifying to see the locally-assembled team engaged in a number of friendlies geared at cutting off the rough edges and putting them in better shape to surmount the challenges ahead. Their job is well cut out.

PlainTalk With John Vigah