Reasons Ghana Football Is Down
At least, 6 recent indicators point to Ghana Football heading the abyss.
The male senior national football team, the Black Stars was beaten 3-2 by the unfancied side Comoros at the 2022 African Cup of Nations hosted by Cameroon.
The locally-based players’ national team, the Black Galaxies was beaten by Niger and Madagascar, previously minnows in the game at the 2023 edition of Championship of Nations held in Algeria.
The Soccer World Cup in Qatar saw the Black Stars unable to go past the group phase, having lost to Portugal and Uruguay and beating South Korea in Group H.
Poor attendance at the various stadia in the local top-flight league was better mirrored by the low gate proceeds to Hearts of Oak and Tamale City in Tamale with Hearts getting less than 500 cedis as its share of the total amount.
Again, Hearts of Oak representing Ghana in the African clubs’ champions league in 2021, was white-washed by Moroccan side Raja 6-1 in Casablanca and dumped out of the competition with a lopsided aggregate.
A former Ghana superstar, Rev. Osei Kofi recently stated that most of the contemporary footballers of Ghana are only football players but not footballers.
The factors that are responsible for the nose dive include the following.
The exodus of good players from the local scene.
The low involvement rate of former local ”heavyweight” players in guiding football re-development in Ghana.
All opponents of Ghana have exploited a particular weakness in Ghana to score. It means opponents study the video of Ghana
matches yet it seems Ghana itself does not do introspection.
Shortage of poaching grounds. The absence of active colts football, as well as inter-school and inter-security agencies football, means that there is no coordinated transfer and promotion of players from the lower to the upper tiers of football.
A seeming lack of psychological presence reveals itself in players’ inability or lack of hunger to build on past achievements.
On current form, Accra Great Olympics, a club side in the Ghana premier league is one of the formidable sides. It could have represented Ghana at the Championship of Nations in Algeria. Coach Cecil Attuquayefio once chose a high-flying Accra Hearts of Oak side to represent Ghana in a match with a star-studded Nigeria Super Eagles. It ended goalless.
Football coaching must not only be taking place on the field where players must kick the ball around. It must also be done in an enclosure for the assessment of previous games, both their own and those of others. It gives perfect case study scenarios guiding players on how to act in given actions on the field of play.
Ghana has been throwing penalty kicks away. By reviewing past video clips it would have been evident to those who miskicked penalties that most players who stood close to the ball before the kick, missed the kicks. There are also lessons from good practices where the best shooters had given themselves a direction to trick goalkeepers before displacing them. How Ghana approaches penalty kicks shows that it has not evolved from the basic place.
Applying the uncanny sixth sense which can be interpreted as intelligent play requires that the team in action is able to devise or vary tactics in response to the dynamics on the field. In Qatar 2022, when The Netherlands realized the Argentine defense was almost impenetrable, it tricked that defense line with an innovative free kick that took the opponents completely unawares, and this resulted in a crucial goal. Ghana’s game has become too flat, hence it is predictable and uninspiring.
Ghana’s goal celebrations look childish. Players get completely lost after scoring when there is more ahead and more to play for. Over-joyous goal celebrations only result in a loss of concentration. It is therefore little surprise that Ghana concedes just after scoring.
Another challenge facing Ghana football is the appointments to football or sports management in general. They must not be football administrators but they must be sportsmen and women who understand the disciplines in the scope.
