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Is the question about the quality of our local football really settled?

Is the question about the quality of our local football really settled?

Last Sunday evening as I watched the grand-finale of the 2017 WAFU Cup of Nations, my whole attention was on the quality of our local football, its talent hunting, the display of skills to attract fans, its popularity as compared to others in other parts of the continent.

There is no doubt that we are born into a land which loves football with the game being our passion, and obviously what is worrying all of us in the development of our game is the poor economic condition, which is virtually driving our young budding players into exodus even before attaining their maturity.

It has almost become a norm to see our best being cheaply sold to certain African countries, which cannot be described as capable of balancing the equation with our own.

Can you believe that as the WAFU Cup competition was being played, there were numerous scouts ready to buy the best players?

In other words, in the event of re-organising the same locally-based players tournament in the next two years, most of our presently trusted players would not be around to be selected by our coach for the games. How would the fans feel on noticing that the best to watch are not available?

The organisers of the recent event acted very smart in introducing free gates at times (similar to free education) to attract fans to the Cape Coast Stadium with the sole aim of whetting their appetite for the game after the tournament, perhaps taking note of the recent poor attendance to our local matches. Yes, they rushed there to cheer up the team which had players such as Amos Frimpong of Kumasi Asante Kotoko, Stephen Sarfo of Berekum Chelsea, Kwame Kizito, Vincent Atinga, Winfred Cobbina, Thomas Abbey and Patrick Razak of Hearts of Oak, Emmanuel Lomotey of Dreams FC, Samuel Sarfo of Liberty Professionals, goalkeeper Joseph Addo of Aduana Stars, and captain Isaac Twum of Inter Allies who made all the difference and made everybody happy that day.

The greatest hope of our “football people” was how to sustain that happiness after rushing to fill every space in the stadium. The other day, I mentioned that football is a lovely game that attract lovely spectators, but much will depend on what type of people play the game. Truly, you can see how Brazil, for instance, have since the days of the great Pele added more value to the popularity of the game with some of their great players being wooed to join the exodus train to Europe to join high class teams in Europe and Asia.

There is no doubt that the players and fans would miss their admired fellows we have on the field now, and their wishes has been that they would secure good contracts at home to play and attract more fans on the field, even in the face of all the economic conditions.

Indeed, that is the desire of the corporate bodies that are ever ready to sponsor our local competitions. Right now, GN Bank is the sponsors of the Division One League (DOL) and the expectation of Papa Kwesi Nduom, the chairman and owner of the bank and the financial backbone of Elmina Sharks, is that the various match venues would be filled to capacity to enable them get their mileage as long as they dole out fat money to help the clubs and football generally.

It is obvious that the head coach of the Senior Black Stars, Kwasi Appiah did not waste his time watching every bit of the tournament to pencil down some of the potential stars who have shown that they were fit to be included in the national team. The nation has not given up the hope of qualifying, even though the chances are highly uncertain. Some observers say it is only 10 per cent possible as Egypt have taken a commanding lead with nine points followed by Uganda with seven, with the Black Stars and Congo languishing at the bottom.

Of course, can we really measure the ability to play in the national senior team by the just ended tournament, looking at the six matches played in 16 days by the Team B at the Cape Coast Stadium? On the whole, the quality displayed by the team must give every observer his or her own measuring rod to access and adjudge every player. Some of us initially rated Nigeria, Mali and Niger as more matured in their approach to the game with some of their players highly advanced in ball control, good thinking and improved ability to create goal scoring chances.

Yes, as someone said, the gods of this land would not allow the Nigerians to inflict two defeats against this land in a matter of three days . So be it as it may, the competition had to end with the Stars B team collecting the giant trophy and the seed money of $100,000 at stake. And I must say, I liked the extra determination of the boys to impress the huge crowd and work hard for the victory.

Coach Maxwell Konadu deserves a lot of plaudits for his good work despite all the criticisms that surrounded his defeat at the hands of Burkina Faso in the struggle for qualification to the next CHAN tournament slated for next year. Of course the entire technical team and the playing body knew the nation would adequately reward them the moment they grabbed the cup. That notwithstanding, the struggle continues.

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