It was in a stadium called ‘Ohene Djan’ opposite the famous Black Stars Square in Accra that witnessed the last winners of the prestigious African Nations Cup. Now called the Orange African Cup of Nations due to sponsorship reasons; its new winners will be known in the land of the Palancas Negras – the Portuguese name of the rare Black Antelopes in Angola. And it will be in ‘Estádio 11 de Novembro’ in Luanda on the 31st of January to be precise, and as usual the Black Stars of Ghana will be there to participate.
Yet, the African Nations Cup, which commences in the next few weeks, lacks in reportage as the aura and anticipation of participating in an ‘African’ World Cup in Mzansi (South Africa) by the Black Stars dominates the mainstream Ghanaian media. And yeah, the conflict of loyalty that will arise when the Stars lace up their boots to battle Coach Milovan Rajevac’s Serbia in Pretoria on June 13 dominates, too.
On that cold night in far away Tripoli, twenty-seven years ago, when the George Alhassan and Opoku Afriyie led Black Stars won the fourth Nations Cup for Ghana; I reckon many of the current sports journalists or those charlatans parading themselves as such were neither born nor old enough to vividly remember the team’s starting eleven. Therefore, another Nations Cup trophy for mother Ghana is long overdue!
Significantly, this hunger for another continental title by the many soccer-crazed Ghanaians falls squarely on the shoulders of arguably the luckiest and most pampered Black Stars squad Ghana has ever produced (I used lucky advisedly). The ‘fat’ bonuses, the numerous sponsorship packages—Goldfields, Guinness Ghana, MTN, and Glo—and the support of all the major stakeholders in the football fraternity towards this Stephen Appiah led Black Stars is unprecedented in this country.
However, they are yet to win a major accolade for Ghana (the Four Nation Tournament they won in 2007 is not recognized by CAF, neither is FIFA). Before you ‘crucify’ me as being unfair towards the team—they were the first to qualify Ghana to the World Cup, right?—let me set some records straight.
No one can take the honour from the players and its technical team for it was through their zeal and perseverance that took us to our first global showpiece, but should that be the only yardstick to measure the success of a team that boasts of so many talents? Also, should we be overwhelmed by such a feat by a country that won its fourth Nations Cup as far back as 1982? And, the Black Stars are not the first nation to make it out of the group stages at their maiden appearance in the FIFA World Cup as Cameroun and Senegal have already blazed that trail and even better by beating then World Champions in Argentina and France, respectively. Methinks it is rather unfortunate to say the least that we managed to qualify for the World Cup seventy-five (75) years after its inception. Hence our qualification was rather a must and must be seen as such!
The core of this team has been around since 2004 (we failed to make it to the Nations Cup in Tunisia that year), however, its stuttering performances in 2004 and in early 2006 can be pardoned by many Ghanaian soccer enthusiasts since the team can be termed as being in a rebuilding process after the change of baton from C.K Akunnor to Stephen Appiah. So after close to six years of playing together as a unit, there will be no better time for the Black Stars to deliver Ghana another Nations Cup trophy in this century. The host and win in 2008? Needless to say, we hosted and delivered the trophy to Egypt.
The expectant news—yes, because I expected it—that the current ‘face’ of Ghanaian soccer on the globe, Michael Essien is injured and will miss the Nations Cup in Angola comes as a big blow. But this injury to Ghana’s ‘most’ loyal player (pun unintended) shouldn’t be used as a recipe for failure by Coach Milo and his boys. I said this from experience. Few weeks to the Nations Cup in Egypt in 2006, Essien got injured from what many Ghanaians think was orchestrated by the then Chelsea boss, Jose Mourinho against Tottenham. Subsequent injuries to Asamoah and Sulley derailed the Stars train and couldn’t make it from a group that comprised Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe.
Though that misfortune turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Ghana’s performance the World Cup later in that year, a similar performance of the Black Stars in CAN 2006 in Angola would be totally unacceptable!
Prior to the day when Black Stars Captain Emmanuel Quarshie lifted Ghana’s fourth Nations Cup trophy in Tripoli, Libya, the Pharaohs of Egypt had only won the trophy twice and the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun who is now at as Ghana with four trophies apiece hadn’t won any. Therefore, we can’t decide to rest on our laurels and live on past glories because the last time I checked, our country is not called England and our national team is called the Black Stars not Three Lions.
No disrespect to the prowess of the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun, the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire, the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the other perennial Nations Cup giants; but the Black Stars dare not to bring the Cup home from Angola. If they do, succinctly one thing describes them: they are underachievers and rightly so!
