Never Again, GFA!

Like many soccer loving Ghanaians, my heart was filled with joy when the Ghana Football Association announced that all national team coaching jobs were going to be given on contract basis; thereby doing away with the system of straight forward appointment of coaches for the teams. So far we hear over eighty (80) local and foreign coaches have applied. This is a relieve to most of us, especially in the wake of events that our dear All Africa Games gold winning Black Meteors will not be at the 2012 Olympic Games due to basically the wrong selection of a coach. Till date, heartbroken Ghanaians are still wondering what criteria the Ghana Football Association used in selecting Coach David Duncan for Black Meteors job. Was the decision to help him better his coaching CV as it is speculated in the appointment of local coaches to the national teams, especially the junior national teams? Is it because the FA thought the current Meteors team was an already packaged team comprising of the2010 under-20 world cup winning players of the Dede Ayews, Inkooms, Adiyiahs, Agyemang-Badus, Daniel Opares, Dan Adjeis, etc. so they could give the team to just anybody? The reason for these questions being that Coach Duncan failed the nation woefully when he was coach of the national under-17 football team that could not win even a single game at the World Cup in 2002. As a matter of fact, Duncan could not have qualified for the Black Meteors job if due process was followed in the selection. Ghana became the first African nation to win an Olympic soccer medal at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games. Ghana�s Black Meteors won bronze at the tournament after beating Australia by a lone goal. One of the very logical factors that contributed to the feat was that Ghana had solid Black Starlets, Satellites and Black Stars teams during that period. Remember at the time, the Starlets won gold at Italia �91, the Black Stars won Silver at Senegal �92 and then later in Australia �93, the Satellites also won silver. Those were the days of the Yaw Prekos, Daniel Addos, Nii Odartey Lampteys, Samuel Osei Kufours, Emmanuel Duahs, Mohammed Gargos, Kofi Nimos, Isaac Asares, Ali Jarrahs, etc. These players that won the under-17 world cup in 1991 became the core of all the national teams in Ghana hence the consistency and successes chalked at the time. After Ghana set the pace with an Olympic bronze medal in 1992, Nigeria and Cameroon won gold in 1996 and 2000 Olympics respectively. The 2012 Olympic Games was Ghana�s turn to win Gold but for the wrong decision made by the GFA technical committee. With a Black Meteors team comprising of Skipper Dede Ayew, Samuel Inkoom, Agyemang-Badu, Dominic Adiyah, David Addy, Dan Opare, Daniel Adjei, etc, with other inclusions like Kwadwo Asamoah, Adam Kwarasey, Jordan Ayew, Isaac Vorsah, Lee Addy, Mahatma Otoo and others, Ghana could not have settled for anything less. The harm has already been done. Ghana Black Meteors will not be in England when the 2012 Olympic Games commences. We have to focus on building a solid team for future assignments. We need to get the foundation right. Let us get the right technical brains to groom players from the junior levels. The Brazil 2014 World Cup is just around the corner. The GFA must appoint junior team coaches devoid of personal interests so that by 2014, the Black Stars will have a solid team to conquer the world. Gold should be our target in the next World Cup. God Bless GFA, God Bless Ghana.