Ex-GFA boss: Build Black Stars around local players
Former Ghana Football Association (GFA) Chairman, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, has identified the absence of local players in the national team as the reason for their poor performance lately.
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He said the commitment of local-based players on the pitch was telling whenever they were given the opportunity, but the same could not be said about their foreign-based counterparts.
Sharing his thoughts on the Black Stars 2026 World Cup qualifying game against Madagascar last Friday, the veteran football administrator expressed his disappointment in the team for their poor performance against a less-fancied team as he expected the victory margin to be wider on that day.
He observed that instead of playing as a team, the players were only playing to the gallery and advised that in such high-tensioned games, there was no time for such showboating.
''They must know that the competition is not an exhibition, what they have been playing is a football exhibition. Getting close to scoring a goal and not being able to do that, dribbling on the pitch anyhow is an exhibition and not a competition football,'' he stated.
He described the victory against the Barea as a narrow escape, which must not be celebrated because the team was heading for disgrace until that last-minute gasp brought some relief and asked the coaches to turn their attention to the local players as the saviour for the team's dwindling fortunes.
''It is about time the coach take a look at the local players because some of the goals they could not score our local players can score and the more they get our local players involved, the better the competition and a better team we'll have,'' he asserted.
According to him, from what he saw about the players' commitment, qualification to the next Mundial would be very difficult if they continue to show such an attitude and recommended that a longer period of camping was needed to ensure the team gelled well for tournaments.
''I'm told about 2/3rd of the Madagascar team are local players so we should form a local Black Stars so that a few foreign ones who are more skilful will be added to gel with them but the core of the team must be local players,” he added.