Even though Black Stars acting coach Sellas Tetteh has scored two straight victories in the on going World Cup/ Cup of Nations qualifying series fastidious Ghanaian football fans believe there is still enough room for improvement.

The 3-0 home win over Libya in Kumasi on June 1st received quite a good applause and when the Black Stars took that commanding 3-0 lead in the second match against Lesotho in South Africa the media might have begun searching for superlatives to describe Essien and Co when the burble burst in the dying minutes Incredibly the Stars conceded two quick goals in injury time and they were actually gasping for breath when the shrill whistle of the Rwandan referee brought matters to a close much to the relief of Ghanaians glued to their TV sets.

As is expected many theories were propounded by fans and the arm chair critics for the Black Stars rather unimpressive finishing. One school of thought was that the Black Stars did not have adequate acclimitation at that high altitude but others put the blame on technicalinadequacies. The coach was blamed for making bad substitutions and to some extent poor selection.

Most of the radio stations in Ghana criticized the coach for sidelining defender Hans Adu Sarpei who on the basis of his performance at the last Cup of Nations and at Bayern Leverkusen where he is a regular,deserves to be in the national colours.

The way the frustrated player left camp after the match in Kumasi does not promote camaderie in camp. It is a very dangerous trend if players begin to suspect that there is favouritism in selection and the coach must be on the look out.

The suggestion from many keen observers of the Black Stars game is that Harrison Afful should move to the right back. Paintsil has taken too long a time to master the defence and he should be replaced by Sarpei on the left

Of course as the football purists always argue the coach knows best and so we ordinary mortals can only suggest. So the suggestion is that any time the coach feels like replacing Essien for any reason like he did in the match against Lesotho, Francis Dickoh should be
around to partner John Mensah. We would have a solid pair.

Agyeman Badu of All Stars fame must be made to serve enough apprenticeship on the bench in friendlies and not be allowed to spoil the pattern of play in serious competitive matches like he did in Lesotho

The suspicion that the Coach wants to please FA boss Kwesi Nyantakyi’s player from Wa All Stars is not fair. After all the FA boss has made it clear that Tetteh is only a stand in coach; his natural habitat is with the Black Satellites, the junior national team

Coach Tetteh must be reminded that he may be officially the acting coach but I believe the FA could extend his services if he is able to perform creditably at the end of the four top matches lined up for him.

That is why I expect him to play his best cards in tomorrow’s match against Gabon in Libreville. The records show that Gabon eliminated Ghana from the 1990 Cup of Nations prelims The two ties ended 1-0 for each side and Gabon won the resultant penalty shootout 5-3.

But in the France 98 World Cup qualifiers the Black Stars easily dismissed Gabon. The first match in Gabon on Nov 10 1996 ended in a 1-1 draw and Ghana won the return in Accra on April 27 1997 3-0.

On current form the Black Stars should carry the day on Sunday. The experts say there is no logic in football. What this means is that even though Libya beat Gabon 1-0 and Ghana beat Libya 3-0 it does not follow that Ghana will surely win. Let’s leave those calculations to the mathematicians. Football is a game that the best team does not necessarily win the day that’s why football pools are such a big attraction.

Sellas Tetteh has a tough task on his hands but he also has the luxury of a cream of talented players to pick a good team from and if he sincerely means business success would crown his genuine efforts.