WHY KWASI APPIAH IS NOT THE ‘JOSHUA’ TO TAKE THE BLACK STARS TO THE ‘PROMISED LAND’…..
March 19, 2012, an article on ESPN
soccernet’s website reads Ghana FA sack Stevanovic for AFCON failure ……(http://www.espnfc.com/story/1037807/ghana-sack-goran-stevanovic-for-african-nations-cup-failure)...
The Sebian trainer who had assumed the role
as head coach of the Black Stars, the nation’s senior national team in January
2011 was to leave exactly a year year and some months later after several
issues had crippled Ghana’s campaign in our quest to win an AFCON trophy for
the first time since 1982….(link to Plavi’s appointment…
The coach himself made it clear that
indiscpline and use of Black magic was the mainspring of Ghana’s failure at the
tournament…link to the juju story..
After several pontifications from various
groups of people, ‘Plavi’ as Stevanovic was affectionately called was axed and
there came the incessant calls for an indigenous coach.
Those calls were backed further by this
famous saying by the nation’s founder, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah that the Black
amn is capable of handling his own affairs…
Factually they were backed by the fact that
no foreign coach had won the nation any trophy at senior level…
Eventually, the whole nation seemed to have
bought the idea of a local coach amidst few criticisms and concerns raised.
The ‘chosen one’ James Akwasi Appiah was
appointed as head coach of the Black Stars months after being handed the job
temporarily in April 2012.
Now we have an idea of how Kwasi Appiah came,
lets look at how he has handled things since he took over….
Kwasi Appiah inherited a side that had
chalked 4th place in the Afrixcan cup of nations and his immediate
task was to quickly build a team to qualify for the AFCON 2013.
That mission was well accomplished and
expectations were high that due to his experience with our two previous
coaches, and also with our crop of players we were sure favorites to lift the
trophy in Mandela land.
Serious eyebrows were raised when squad
selection became topical in the whole of the country.
The Ayew brothers the
main casualty…with the injured Yahaya Mohammed meant only defender Rashid
Mohammed was dropped.
The coach defended his actions by coming out
with an explanation s to why he dropped Jordan Ayew from the squad….
What happened next was we failed and the
coach came up with this message…
“I made some tactical errors in the course of
the competition,” the soft-speaking trainer said at a press conference on
Friday afternoon.
“I have learnt very useful lessons from the
experience in South Africa and I hope to correct such mistakes for the good of
the team in future.”…..coach Kwesi Appiah
Eventually he was going to be axed after the failed AFCON campaign by the GFA, until the plot was exposed by local football website footyghana.com.
Ghanaians once again rallied behind the coach and the FA softened its stance on the whole issue.
So Unlike his predecessor, The Ghana Football Association told Appiah to continue his work as Black Stars coach.
The silent Killer was then tasked to qualify
Ghana to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
The former Black Stars captain achieved after
a slow start but came in with some convincing results and scored some points to
silence some of his critics and doubters.
After sealing qualifications, there were
concerns about how the coach could meet up to the expectations of the world cup
from the technical perspective.
Prior to the world cup, there were so many reports, The GFA had conceived an idea to bring in German tactician Klaus Topmoller and then came another news of former Chelsea man Avram Grant.
And all of this was based on the expansion given by the coach after the AFCON .
Prior to the world cup, there were so many reports, The GFA had conceived an idea to bring in German tactician Klaus Topmoller and then came another news of former Chelsea man Avram Grant.
And all of this was based on the expansion given by the coach after the AFCON .
He himself made assertions of his willingness
to work with his former boss Milovan Rajevac amidst so many reports of the GFA
bringing in a technical director/adviser for the team.
AHEAD
OF THE WORLD CUP
The day finally arrived when the 26 provisional
squad list was announced with little surprises but many questions.
I recall the coach naming his 2 left backs as
Harrison Afful and Jeffery Schlupp and his right backs as Daniel Opare and
Samuel Inkoom.
Eventually Sclupp was dropped, Akaminko got
injured and one attacker David Accam was dropped.
Before that, the mystery of a standby list
was unraveled when FIFA’s website revealed that Ghana had brought on board 30
players and not the widely publicized 26.
The FA came up with an excuse and the matter
died out.
Fast forwarding, in our first game in the
world cup against the USA, we had our in-form midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah starting
from the left back, and a player who was never used in our preparatory matches,
Daniel Opare starting at the right back position.
The latter, made a gravely error which resulted to us conceding the fastest goal in the tournament so far.
Some slack defending and poor tactics would
result in Ghana losing the game 2-1.
The coach came up with a flimsy excuse that
he wanted to use our best players in the second half when the opponents were
tired…such an antiquated and subservient tactics.
In our second game amidst rumors of a player
revolt, we played well but once again were found wanting when it mattered most…tactical
variation.
We outdone the Germans and all the coach
needed to do was to establish a system that could make us maintain our slim
lead or go on to get more goals. Mediocrity and inferiority complex on the part
of now Dr Okatakyie James Akwasi Appiah, made us draw the game.
Now ahead of our final and decisive game
against Portugal, stories were rife that there was gross indiscipline in camp
and that the coach known as the silent killer by his players had cried during dining.
Player insubordination had had engulfed the
camp of the Black Stars and the coach who made us aware that he was in charge wielded
his axe on two players…Sulley Muntari and Kevin Prince Boateng..the former for
fighting with a management member the latter for abusive language against the
coach.
On the fateful day, the Black Stars played
Portugal, morale was down and the players look disinterested. It is been
reported that a player refused warming up and nothing was done about it…
We lost the match and Ghana were out of the
world cup at the group stages for the first time.and….it was a Black coach..
Now here is a brief summary of Kwasi Appiah
as head coach of the team…
Appointed: April 2012…immediate task qualify
for AFCON 2013...successful…next target, win AFCON 2013…failed…
Apologizes, and is given a second chance…blame
dhis failed campaign for tactical lapses….
Next task…qualify for the world cup…successful…..take
Ghana a step further than in our previous world cup campaign or maintain status…failed
totally…
1point out of 9.
Lost for the first time to USA.
Lost control of players as tactical
discipline was veryevident with our team…
Indecison…as our coach was experimenting
Poor timing….
Tactical ineptitude……Ghana misses out on
qualification….
Reason: I AM SORRY….
The interesting thing is coach Kwasi Appiah has given same reason for his AFCON failure and clearly shows He needs to learn more but not on the job.
So why does the GFA all of a sudden have confidence in him... and his abilities.
FOR HOW LONG WILL KWASI APPIAH SAY SORRY AND
CONTINUE TO TAKE MONEY FOR HIS SHAMBOLIC WORKS….
I love Kwasi Appiah as a |Ghanaian but I love
the Black Stars more since I’m also a Ghanaian and I feel the period for try
and error must cease abruptly….
Most of the Coaches who failed at this stage
of the tournament have honorably resigned….and our coach honestly speaking is
not better than any of them.
He needs to upgrade himself and those short
courses being organized at Prampram and those short term attachments are of no
use to him as a coach and the national team.
When did we settle for mediocrity?? Look at
what Klinsmann is doing for the USA and draw comparisons with Ghana and you
will know what I mean.
Carlos Queiroz’s Iran, these are evidence of
why the Black stars deserves a better coach than Kwasi Appiah.
A coach takes $400,000 for our world cup campaign
(qualification bonus $300k plus appearance fee $100k) and comes back with sorry….
With all due respect, Kwasi Appiah should
humbly vacate the role or we stand the risk of what has happened in our shambolic performances in 2 tournaments under
his leadership.
The Black stars deserves a quality coach and
not any mediocre and neophyte coach. Just as Moses took the Israelites out of
Egypt, a Joshua finally led them to the land flowing with milk and honey.
Kwasi Appiah has shown he’s not up to the
task and we need a “JOSHUA” to do
the rest.
I careless if it’s a local or foreign coach,
Ghana’s Black Stars deserves a quality coach.