The senior national football team, the Ghana Black Stars, qualified for this year’s upcoming World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, by eliminating their arch-rivals, the Super Eagles of Nigeria, in Abuja, Nigeria, on an away goal rule. The match ended one goal apiece following a zero-zero stalemate in Ghana five days prior.
The qualification of the Stars to the next World Cup will be the fourth time the team will be participating in the global soccer fiesta having already played in the 2006, 2010 and 2014 editions of the games. Of the three previous tournaments, our best outing has been the 2010 games held in South Africa where we reached the Quarter finals as one of only three African countries to achieve that feat, the other two countries being Cameroun (1990) and Senegal (2002).
Our worst performance also has been the 2014 games in Brazil where the nation airlifted money to the senior national team only for them to engage in acts of indiscipline including fighting against some management members and failing to progress from the Group stages in the process. As we begin preparations for our next tournament, which is just around the corner, we have these two most recent experiences at the games to guide us.
Good Preparations for Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022: A Must
I have no doubt in my mind that the qualification of the senior national team to the upcoming Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup has brought some relief, smiles and optimism to many Ghanaians both within and outside the country. My position is premised not only on the fact that success was achieved over Nigeria, our bitterest arch-rivals in their own land, but also because of the fact that as a nation, we have had to battle with several months of Covid-19 challenges, harsh economic conditions characterised by rising costs of fuel, transportation, foodstuffs, etc., as well as needless controversies over the passage or non-passage of the now almighty E-levy tax. Following our almost “surprise” qualification to Qatar, most Ghanaians, if not all, have tried to put some of the challenges mentioned above to the backstage and for once, to smile and celebrate the qualification of the Black Stars to the next World Cup.
Yes, indeed, Ghanaians have every right to celebrate the senior national team’s latest qualification to the World Cup. Yet, nobody can deny the reality that there are still many Ghanaians today, both home and abroad, who wish that the Black Stars never qualified for the football mundial owing to the shameful debacle in our last outing at Brazil 2014, that inglorious and messy campaign which culminated ultimately in the setting up of the three-member Justice Senyo Dzamefe Commission of Enquiry. The rest, they say, is history.
It is also true that controversies surrounding appearance fees, winning bonuses, etc., almost always surround the senior national team whenever the team qualifies for various tournaments, and these similarly make it difficult for many a Ghanaian to fully support the national team. History is important because from history, we learn useful lessons from past mistakes in order to become wise not to repeat those in the future.
Hence, we need no reminding that it is absolutely critical that we learn useful lessons from our three previous participations in the World Cup so that we can acquit ourselves well in the upcoming games which is coming closer to us than we can imagine. In the same vein, we do not need no prophet to tell us that success will come but only with right preparation, attitudes and motivation. Thus, in order to make a mark at the upcoming games which ought to be nothing short of a Quarter final berth, one cannot stress enough the need for adequate preparations.
Insofar as the current state of the team is concerned, the current caliber of technical staff made up of Otto Addo, Chris Hughton, George Boateng, Didi Dramani and Richard “Olele” Kingston seems to me the right mixture of handlers we need for the team, and I think that given the needed support and free hand to work, they would be able to deliver the goods. In terms of the playing body itself, the goalkeeping section which has been a headache in most recent times, needs to be looked at.
While Jojo Wallacott seems to be improving at least judging from the two recent games with Nigeria, I think he needs to be encouraged to keep on improving while we look at the other options we have. The defence for now seems steady but can be better while the midfield looks good, especially if the partnership between Thomas Partey, Mohammed Kudus and co. can be solidified. Our major headache for now is the attacking department where our strikers are simply not striking enough if at all. This situation has to be rectified quickly before we head off to Qatar later this year because we need goals and goals to progress. The addition of Callum Hudson-Odoi and others can help.
While looking at issues on the field of play, we need also to look at issues off the field of play. I am referring here to several off the field incidents that have often proven to be very distracting and destructive for the Black Stars in the past and also in the present. These issues include indiscipline among the playing body in terms of players disobeying camp rules, sometimes staying late at night, bringing their girlfriends and women friends to camp, their alleged use of juju, among others. All these issues and related ones must be tackled before we emplane for Qatar with measures put in place to ensure that camp rules are strictly followed, and appropriate sanctions applied. Otherwise, the value will be the same; we will return home to lament again and resume our usual blame games.
In the efforts to ensure that we do well at the Qatar games, the overarching consideration should be that we take the necessary steps not to monetise the Black Stars by putting too much emphasis on money over and above dedication, selflessness and patriotism on the part of the team and management. Putting too much emphasis on monetary gains all these years has led us nowhere and I posit that it is one of the reasons why the team does not have the support of a good number of Ghanaians today.
Therefore, let us try as much as possible to get it right this time around, and with dedication, commitment and the support of the whole country, there is every hope that the team can do well in the upcoming games. Doing well at the Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022 will not only help raise high the flag of Ghana once again but it will also serve as a springboard of hope for success in two upcoming sporting events in 2023, namely, qualification for the next African Cup of Nations to be hosted by Ivory Coast and the All-Africa Games to be hosted by us.
With these events in mind, it is simply a must for us to do well in Qatar and to use the success thereof to galvanize the nation for another shot at the AFCON (the last time we won was way back in 1982, 40 years ago) and for sporting success and development towards the hosting of the All-Africa Games.
Conclusion
While it is a truism that some Ghanaians today do not care too hoot about the Black Stars and some actually wish that they do not qualify for any games, it is also a truism that sports in general and football in particular serve as important platforms to advertise Ghana to the outside world than most people can imagine.
Therefore, it is important that we do all we can to maximize the potentials that sports in general and football in particular bring to us. As a nation, we must use our sports to create employment opportunities, develop our infrastructure, promote tourism and inculcate patriotism. One of the surest ways of doing these is the platform provided for us by sporting events such as the World Cup and the All-Africa Games which we are going to host next year.
In our preparations for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar and the All-Africa Games in Ghana, it is my prayer that we will do what is needful and avoid what are unnecessary. May these two sporting events become springboards of hope and development for our nation to move forward. Long live Ghana, Long live the Ghana Black Stars! Please, go make us proud!
By Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Abbey-Quaye, Duquesne University, Pa.
