If what I saw in the match between Cameroun and Mali at the Nuevo Estadio de Malabo in Equatorial Guinea at the ongoing AFCON 2015 tournament could be the criteria to determine how far football is growing in Africa and how far Ghana’s Black Stars, could go, then I would say the team, led by Asamoah Gyan, has not reached that level we could describe as continental or world conquerers now.
In fact, the team is still struggling to find their winning form which was very evident a few years ago.
Good old coach Avram Grant is not totally happy with the way his charges are trembling and fumbling to satisfy their teeming followers back home and the few die-hard supporters that had gathered to cheer them up. Indeed, there are a lot of grounds to cover before we can say the Black Stars, despite their three-time World Cup berth on the trot, are not yet on top of the continent.
The "go and do well" agenda did manifest itself in the match against Algeria in which the presence of captain, Asamoah Gyan, made a lot of the difference, compared with their first group match against the Teranga Lions of Senegal.
Honestly, in the first and second matches, their opponents displayed such maturity and resilience that went to question the preparedness of the four-time African champions.
Many observers believe the Black Stars need a total transformation which requires the corporate support of the whole nation.
We just cannot afford to see that wonderful team we saw in the sixties and seventies going down the drain as if they have been caught in a web of divine charm.
That charisma we adored and admired must be reinstated at all cost as the nation looks up to them for the old pride, satisfaction and boasting rights. Now with over 33 years in the cage with despondency and depression, who says the citizens of this land will not appreciate what the current set of the team can well produce to restore their greatness.
My belief and the belief of millions is that whether they advance to another level or not, we must appreciate the level of improvement made by some other countries who as of 1978 when the Black Stars won the cup for the third time at home, posted a poor, disgusting picture of themselves.
Today, that picture has turned round on us, and the cameras are showing visibly where our qualities are eroding and glaringly showing disappointingly low standards.
The sensational strike from that impossible angle from the boot of skipper Asamoah Gyan in the 1-0 defeat of Algeria could stand as perhaps the only blissful radiation in their entire posture, and it shook the nation, with many people including children going on a carnival.
And it must be up to coach Grant to realise that there are a lot to do to revive the winning mentality of his men on the field.
One might have thought that what happened to the Black Stars at the hands of the Burkina Faso team in the semi-final match of the AFCON 2013 in South Africa, would have taught of us the depth of desperation with which we were going to enter the World Cup in Brazil. The Burkinabes were simply marvellous compared to the Stars, and it appeared from that AFCON that what we were seeing was a poor shadow of the wonderful self we knew.
That trend, I am afraid, has not shown any improvement for the better, and at this time that the Brazil disaster and its ramifications have compounded the distress of the team and their morale still low, will it not be advisable to work towards a total transformation of the entire team?
Those of us who are fanatics of the Stars could not afford to watch a situation where a challenge against the Teranga Lions would drag us on the ground, as we saw recently.
We do not deserve to be so badly treated. It was thought that in the absence of notable giants like Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco and others, the journey to the ultimate would be easy for the Stars. Unfortunately, that piece of excitement which has been our lot has been absent in recent times.
That leaves coach Grant with no other option than to concentrate on image and capacity building which will yield better results in the near future, even not far from the present exercise.
The Black Stars have been known as big giants on stage, but if for 33 years they have been caged and their share of the booty are failures, then something drastic must be quickly done, possibly starting from this fine period of the Israeli instructor and tactician who dared introduce a new formation of 3 - 5 - 2, to neutralise his opponents, but forgot the type of material to execute the good plan.
We will be extremely fascinated if that fresh transformation will take place immediately after the Equatorial Guinea tournament.
Even though it will not be easy to get the full complement of his team, a message to drive into the minds of the players must be the fact that others are working harder to come out of their slumber to deliver, and it is up to us to see them working the hardest way.
