How do we overcome the shadow fighting?
Oh! How lovely it is to see our football season take off beautifully and the atmosphere charged with the return of the Phobian "Never Say Die" spirit. However, the continental front is overladen with what looks like a crashing down of all the credulous optimism with Ashgold losing out at the hands of Algeria's M. O. Bejaia.
Advertisement
Was it not the same team that forced Kumasi Asante Kotoko to crash-land in front of their trusted followers? These boys from the city of Bejaia are gradually becoming an albatross around the necks of our league champions on their way to continental glory, and I wonder which way we can battle them and force them to submit next time.
Really, are we being told we have no answer to the drought we are witnessing in continental honours which have eluded us year after year? And how long are we going to deceive ourselves into believing we can pass through the eye of the needle spiritually and physically without changing the impossibility to possibility?
Ashgold have come back home to dress their wounds, and you imagine who goes next. Tarkwa's Medeama SC is also in one of the continental competitions, the CAF Confederations Cup.
This cup was last won by Accra Hearts of Oak as far back as 2004, and that was the maiden cup. Hearts won it after their other continental glory, the African Champions League and the Super Cup in the year 2000 and 2001 respectively.
In fact, Medeama have a battle on hand, and the whole nation will be on our knees praying and watching how they tackle and win it after their recent humiliation at the hands of tottering Hearts of Oak in a league match at Tarkwa of all places.
But on the continent, they will need something more than mere sing-song and shouts. Itihad Tripoli, their opponents, live on the Libyan desert and as they invoke the spirit of their land, so much is expected to follow in both legs at home and away.
Medeama's Swedish Coach, Tom Strand, knows what it takes to invoke the right spirit and the right strategy to adopt to overcome their opponents, however tough, they are.
Our old traditional clubs, Hearts and Kotoko have had the opportunity to visit Libya recently for friendly matches and it will be of special interest for Medeama management to draw closer to the arch-rivals and seek their advice before they enplane for the fight in Libya.
Let's forget about the super cup Medeama won in the just-ended season, and look forward to the continental assignment with a different approach. Africa is serious and it requires a special touch in all assignments on the continent.
Right now, I know there are people in Libya who are wondering what Medeama means, the stuff they are made of, the guardian spirit that controls the club and how to conquer them both physically and spiritually. We can't take things for granted, cross our legs, sleep and snore. If to us it is a battle, to the North Africans it is war, and they believe in fighting for victory.
Think of the Egyptian approach to the Cup of Nations. They saw Ghana overtaking them in 1982 with a deficit of two wins (four to two) at that time, and decided to wake up from their slumber to work on Ghana.
It was there and then no more throwing of punches, but the type of fight in which you see only the shadow of the opponent. He can hit you from all angles while you stand there totally confused, and from that stage you are the loser by all standards.
Hence, the difference now with Egypt winning the Cup on seven occasions as the "Dead Ghana" still stands at four wins since 1982.
