Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei-Tutu II, has given the Black Stars a shot in the arm with his royal prediction of a 4-0 victory over the Chipolopolo of Zambia as Coach Kwasi Appiah is just two steps away from making history as the first local coach to have qualified the team for the FIFA World Cup.
Otumfuo’s prediction and the rallying of support for the Stars have lifted the team’s spirit to the zenith with each player promising to give of his best to push Ghana to the play-off stage for the final ticket to the Mundial.
Despite the players’ own determination to make a name for themselves, Coach Appiah is even more eager to etch his name on the history tablet as the local coach to have taken Ghana to her third World Cup.
And it is the two strands of interests and the royal push by the Asantehene that could produce the magic for the Stars this evening at the Baba Yara Stadium.
Beyond the qualification, the Stars are upbeat to overturn recent streak of defeats, including the 2012 Nations Cup loss at the hands of their South African opponents.
Apart from goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey who is out of the team due to a groin injury, Coach Appiah, himself a former skipper of the Black Stars, is blessed with all his foreign legions, including three returnees, Kevin Prince-Boateng, Michael Essien and Andre Dede Ayew, for the big game.
And not even Zambian’s psychological war could disrupt the focus of Coach Appiah’s chargers, who are poised to pick one of Africa’s five tickets for Brazil.
The Chipolopolo arrived yesterday afternoon after delayed departure from Lusaka after their Wednesday flight was cancelled because they could not be allowed a direct flight to Kumasi.
The reason by aviation authorities was that the Kumasi Airport was not an international one and, therefore, the Zambians could not be granted to fly directly.
Consequently, they finally arrived yesterday at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra and thence, connected to Kumasi by a local flight.
The Zambians’ ranting and apparent media war notwithstanding, the Ghanaians have remained focused and determined to break the recent jinx.
But the Chipolopolo, who have tagged themselves as party spoilers, are optimistic to pick the group’s only ticket for a play-off with a yet-to-be-named opponent.
Their coach, Herve Renard, a former physical trainer of the Black Stars, have been waiting for this opportunity to prove a point to Ghanaians, but with the kind of atmosphere that the Kumasi-dominated fans are expected to create before and during the match, only the gods can save the Zambians from a massacre.
By Daniel Kenu/Graphic Sports/Ghana
