Hail the stars
And so it came to pass that they went and came back, breaking the heart of a nation. Thirty-five years is surely a long enough wait and, coupled with our fervent prayers to God, nothing short of the continental trophy had been expected. But the fact that we have waited for too long is not enough justification to claim the Cup; adopting the right approach is what would have won it for us.
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The story of the Stars reminds us of the story of Hosea the prophet, his adulterous wife and God. The more he was heartbroken by her escapades, the more God asked him to keep and love her.
And so the more the Stars keep disappointing us, tournament after another, the more we stick to them. After all, that is all we have, we can’t make the Brazilian national team or the German one our own. So long as we remain Ghanaians our destiny is tied to the Stars so far as international football is concerned.
Pragmatic steps
It is in this regard that it is important that we wake up and begin to take pragmatic steps in shaping the team. We need to recognise that God does not play football or take sides in the outcome of games among his children. Granted that some element of luck counts, the better prepared always have an edge.
First, it must begin to sink that neither are we the best team in the world nor are we invincible; we will win some matches and lose some. Even well-accomplished teams such as Brazil, France, Argentina and the like lose matches from time to time.
It is also important to recognise the limitations of our team. We are playing with a bunch of average players who are giving it their all but, unfortunately, their best is not good enough.
This is a team that comprises of a not-too-fit captain and his deputy, a few debutants and several bench warmers in Europe. How in God’s name were we expecting to snatch the trophy at the expense of more talented, well-prepared teams? True, we might have waited too long for the trophy but that is not enough justification to take it.
Sometimes the sort of stomach predictions that are made before our matches borders on the ludicrous. ‘Oh, it will be Ghana 2—Brazil 0, because the Lord is on our side. ‘As for that team, they have always been our ‘wives;’ the last time we met them even at their back yard we beat them 4:0 so this time I am not expecting nothing less than a handsome win.’
If one cares to probe when the last encounter took place, it was in 1964!
There is nothing wrong in being a bit optimistic about chances but creating the impression that God is the number one supporter of the team and he hates the others is a bit far-fetched.
The coach
Now the competence of the coach has even been put on the carpet. That may be a subject for the experts, though I am the last to attribute the chunk of a team’s success to the coach. A few reasons will suffice here. Claudio Ranieri led Leicester to win the English Premier League last season, but this season they may not even survive. Jose Mourinho’s adventures with Chelsea and how he almost led them to relegation is another classical example. Herve Renard may be a good pick but we should not forget that he was also in Gabon and did not take the cup to Morocco this time round.
It should also not be lost on us that the game has evolved and nations who were hitherto considered minnows have invested in developing their game and come of age.
I will rather want to identify with the thoughts of Samuel Osei Kuffour, one of Ghana’s and Africa’s all-time greats. The argument is simple. We need to develop the game from the youth level and also run a more competitive domestic league that would be worthy of the tag professional. Let us remember Kwasi Appiah was the captain of the Stars when he was playing in the local league. So were most of his compatriots in the stars of old which brought shivers down the spine of their opponents.
Let’s move on
To all my countrymen, even at the expense of sounding crazy, I entreat us to pick the pieces and move on. We placed a decent fourth in a competition that comprised 16 teams.
Remember Nigeria, South Africa and some other big names did not even qualify. In any case, you could have been in the team and so could I. After all, Asamoah Gyan or Dede Ayew is not more Ghanaian than Yaw Mensah or Koo Nimo, and the basic qualification still remains being Ghanaian and being able to play top football.
To the players, it is time for you to see your selection as a privilege to represent your nation out of the over 25 million. Let us doff our hats and hail the Stars for being consistently consistent in breaking a nation’s heart. After all, how could we be doing things the same way and expect different results? Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.