Nana Kwaku Agyemang writes: Shades of Grey!

Two friendly matches that were supposed to be useful exercises designed to assess the playing body and to serve the technical team in determining the formations, tactics, styles, and patterns of play to be utilized in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar in November turned out to be something from tales of the unexpected.

The high expectations of the technical team were indeed delivered a very hefty blow, not to mention the supporters. There was no way Ghana were going to defeat Brazil but somehow Sport Journalists and other commentators continued to talk this up as though it was possible.

I am disappointed with our Politicians on both sides of the House, who never miss the opportunity to try to secure some political mileage even where none exists. Their continual verbal intrusion only shows how extremely disingenuous they are and so I would urge all of us not to give them the time of day interviewing them about the possible fortunes of the Black Stars in the World Cup and the African Cup of Nations because they haven’t got a clue and merely seek to hoodwink us into their second guessing for political gain. I am also bewildered with the constant trailing of the Senior National Team by the Minister of Youth & Sports. What really does the Minister have to offer with his presence? Wouldn’t it be more prudent to just monitor from his high office in Ghana?

The match against Brazil went according to the script. Within the first 45 minutes the Black Stars were down by 3-0. In fact, it could have been 6 but luck was on our side in so far as the Brazilians wasted so many opportunities in front of the goal. The second half was somewhat better because the Brazilians allowed the Black Stars to have the ball and exhibit some form of ability which yielded nothing at the end of the day apart from a header against the bar by Andre Ayew. That was the sole highlight!

After the match the Coach Otto Addo conceded that he had made some mistakes, but he wasn’t specific. To those of us on the sidelines the mistakes were glaringly obvious, and the truth be told these mistakes played themselves out throughout the entire duration of match. I think many of us agree that the team selection and team formation were the mistakes at the root cause of such a poor disjointed performance. I still think 3-0 was a respectable score line considering Brazil remain the Worlds bet with Ghana training 59 places below in the FIFA World Rankings!

Just three days later the Ghana Black Stars lined up against Nicaragua who were 139on the FIFA World Rankings. This match was touted to be one of redemption where everything that was wrong in the match against Brazil would be put right and the Stars would make amends and quell our anxieties. Turned out that couldn’t have been any further from the truth in what was an even worse display of unsystematic and discontinuous individual selfishness that the bench could not control!

Most players desperately wanted to register their name on the score sheet and so they abandoned the tactical order in search of glory. The single goal when it did come was a shot that was on target but was deflected into the Nicaraguan goal by the mistimed and misdirected header of a Nicaraguan player and that was that. The only highlights of that match were the illogical substitutions with the introduction of players we already knew whilst players that had not yet tasted any playing time looked on. Perhaps the biggest singular indication that the Coach had lost it was when in the 93^rd minute Afriyie Banieh was introduced for the remaining minute, and he didn’t even get a kick of the ball. How he will be assessed beats the hell out of me but at least he got a minute while other players never even got a look in!

According to Coach Otto Addo only 70% of the 29-man squad that were available for the exercise were guaranteed a place in his final selection for Qatar and this would leave the door open to at least 9 more players to make the squad complete and ready for the FIFA World Cup. It would also allow one final week of activity together before they faced Switzerland in their final friendly encounter before the World Cup kicks off. The Stars couldn’t have asked for any stronger a test than Switzerland who are ranked 16 in the world. Based on what we have witnessed so far it is easy to see which players make up the 70% of those guaranteed a place. The Captain of the Black Stars Andre Ayew gave more than a clue when he indicated that the Senior players may have an advantage of being guaranteed selection. I can’t really blame him for being so bluntly honest but in my opinion Senior players with diminishing performances should never form the basis of any squad!

There had been so much hype about Mohammed Kudos and his exploits playing for Ajax as a false 9 especially as he was consistent in scoring match after match; but it all proved to be like a fine wine in an old bottle intoxicating the player himself, the technical team, and the ordinary supporter. In short, they believed the hype, crucially forgetting that the teammates of Kudos along with the football philosophy of Ajax itself were worlds apart in comparison to the Ghana Black Stars. So much so that suffice to say what he could do in Ajax would not be so easily attained when playing for the Ghana Black Stars. In fact if he ever tried doing what he did in the match against Nicaragua whilst playing for Ajax he would have been substituted for being tactically in disciplined. But in this case our coach just couldn’t muster the technical courage to do same.

The halo above the head of Thomas Partey shone brightly in the matches he was featured, and it appeared as if he was the king pin holding the Arsenal FC together. Behind it all Partey and the club were secretly harboring their worst fears which would eventually give way to a public nightmare as Partey began to miss matches due to injury. Desperately seeking to ensure that a competent replacement Arsenal didn’t really want Partey to leave the UK for Ghana to play the friendly fixtures against Brazil and Nicaragua as the chances of him returning without aggravating his injury was highly unlikely and this would leave the Arsenal vulnerable in the middle of the park as they had yet to find a like for like replacement.

It was that bad that Arsenal wrote to the Ghana Football Association informing them of the recurring injury and advising the technical team about how best he should be deployed.  In the final analysis Thomas Partey played no part at all in both matches and departed to the United Kingdom as soon as he could much to the relief of the Arsenal management. Trust me he will feature in the North London derby against Tottenham for sure and he will play with 100% commitment because that’s where is bread is buttered to the tune of £220,000 per week and there will be none of the usual Ghana wahala and unconventional football trappings that he will be forced to deal with when he is with the Black Stars.

In short, at Arsenal FC he will be at peace as he focuses solely on facing Tottenham Hotspur this weekend with three points being the only aim and objective!

In my opinion Partey can no longer command an automatic place in the Black Stars team. He is injury prone, and in all honesty his commitment understandably is elsewhere. Of course, every player would like to play in the World Cup but just to be on the safe side why don’t the technical team make sure that they have at least two other midfield players they can depend on to marshal that central midfield position just in case. Even Partey’s teammates are advocating the purchase of a midfielder with similar or better qualities to replace him; but we still insist he is our best!

So, in considering the possible additions to this squad several players come to mind. The exclusion of these players in my opinion reinforces the notion that there isn’t a comprehensive selection criterion in place. Jeffrey Schlupp; of Crystal Palace, in the English Premier League, of Majid Ashimeru; of Anderlecht in Belgium, Joseph Painstil; of KRC Genk also in Belgium.  Alfred Duncan; of Fiorentina in Italy, Salis Abdul Samed, of RC Lens in France, Jeremie Frimpong of Bayer Leverkusen in Germany and to a certain extent Mubarak Wakasso, of KAS Eupen on loan from China (who is now featuring for his new club after a year or two at home) the rest are all featuring on a regular basis for their club sides and are making the necessary impact with their performances, so why have they been excluded in the first place? What are we looking for in a player? Well, that’s almost the missing 30%. I would strongly argue that Afriyie Banieh, of Accra Hearts of Oak should also make the cut after all he is one of our best locally based players. Who the coach will drop to accommodate fresh call ups I won’t waste space hazarding a guess!

I am concerned that after such an exercise we are no further forward in preparing a team ready to exploit the opportunity at the FIFA World Cup. I am also concerned that although I support Coach Otto Addo that he remains in the full-time employment of Dortmund and can only give a part of his time to the aspirations of an entire nation as we head to the World Cup. I’ve said it time and time again I do not know of any serious Football Association that would entrust their Senior National team into the hands of a coach that is only prepared to work on a part time basis. I have never witnessed this ever before! With only 6 or so weeks left before the mundial I humbly suggest that the coach should forget about Dortmund until our participation in the World Cup is over. We need a technical team that is focused 100% on our team especially as there is so much work to do. In real terms looking at what took place in Spain against Nicaragua I think it is fair to say we do not even have a second XI.

We can pretend if we want; after all it is what we are used to doing all this while but I for one will take no solace from the utterings of the coach who has tried to reassure us that things will be alright once we get to the World Cup. I cannot develop any confidence from that at all taking into consideration all that I have witnessed over the past week. I can’t see the imprint of Chris Houghton or George Boateng on the players that have been assembled. I know they are affording the coach the due respect, but they should bear in mind this is not club football.

So instead of allowing him to make fundamental mistakes they should nip it in the bud and guide him much more especially when it comes to making decisions. The coach has nothing to lose but we the citizens of Ghana have a lot to lose if there is a no show in this World Cup. We don’t want to repeat the embarrassment of the 2014 FIFA World Cup where we secured only one point out of nine and then still stood back to boast that the eventual winners, Germany were unable to beat us! Not only was such a declaration a celebration of mediocrity it was also the height of stupidity!

By Nana Kwaku Agyemang