Sports
Unraveling riddles behind Laryea, FA turbulence
Laryea Kingston and FA President, Kurt Okraku
Events in three major sports including football and boxing have kept Ghanaian sports faithful spellbound, following attentively their outcomes which would determine Ghana’s participation or otherwise in major upcoming events.
The first is the ongoing West Africa Football Union (WAFU) Zone B U-17 championship at the University of Ghana Sports Stadium which Ghana’s Black Starlets were kicked out at the semi-final stage by a determined Burkina Faso side.
Secondly, the Road to Paris 2024 Boxing Championship in Bangkok, Thailand is one boxing fans are following to monitor the progress of the Black Bombers.
They need to secure some of the 51 allotted places for the Paris 2024 Olympics expected to take place in a few months’ time.
Then comes the Ghana Premier League (GPL) on its last stretch. For the second consecutive time, major traditional and city rivals, Accra Hearts of Oak and Accra Great Olympics are heavily involved in an interesting battle to avoid relegation.
That carries enough weight to dominate discussions on the various media platforms for the entire week.
However, a sudden Laryea Kingston outburst after the Black Starlets loss to Burkina Faso turned the scripts and swept the Hearts-Oly relegation discussion under the carpet.
Laryea, no doubt has emerged as one of the respected and confident young coaches and expected to take Ghana football by storm. His exploits with the Right to Dream Academy and the Starlets in a previous adventure made him an obvious candidate for the job.
The target was to land in the finals to guarantee qualification to the CAF U-17 Championship and subsequently qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
But the Burkina Faso hurdle proved too costly; leaving behind a dejected, disappointed, sad and disheartened young talents who obviously looked up to their coach for comfort and some consolation.
On the field of play after the match, they enjoyed that from their coach who inspired them in his play-days with Great Olympics, Hearts of Oak and the national teams.
They were, however, left shocked to the bone by the announcement of the coach’s resignation and the manner it was carried out.
The matter became murkier by an intolerant and emotional acceptance statement from the FA, raising issues over how Laryea handled his resignation when the team had a third place playoff in a few days’ time.
The FA played smart to ‘weather the storm’ by announcing assistants to take over and visited the team ahead of the Tuesday (May 28) bronze medal playoff against Nigeria.
Without knowing the exact issues that got Laryea infuriated, he has been ‘hanged’ already on reasons bordering on his temperament. Yes, I am tempted to side with the judges presiding on the matter handled in a court of public opinion.
No matter what may have angered him, he could have proved his critics wrong by going about his resignation in a decent manner rather than abandoning the team and his post-match duties including the meeting with the team’s management committee which he reports directly to.
Clearly, his action will deny him a platform through which his grievances can reach the FA for solutions.
That, however, does not also exonerate the FA because clearly, it goofed with the tone of its statement and their action creating a platform for a ‘buga-buga’ analysis of the matter.
By Andrew Nortey
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.
