You can trust the millions of arm-chair critics in football crazy Ghana. Not too surprising, there is a furious debate going on in Ghana whether the Black Satellites 4-3 victory over South Africa in the semi- finals of the African Youth Football championship in Kigali was the result of the Satellites having sharp shooters that bang in the goals or a lousy defence that concedes goals with careless abandon.

The moot point is how Ghana led by a comfortable 2-0 margin at the interval and at one stage in the second half cruising to a comfortable 4-1 victory but in the end had to struggle stoutly to defend a thin 4-3 lead. I would say that none of the theories can be correct. This is football for you, the most unpredictable sport in the universe and it is not over until its all over. The South Africans were not mere pushovers, you ask the Egyptians. When the North Africans thought they had wrapped up a comfortable 2-0 win to sail into semi finals, South Africa shocked them with a late goal that took them to the medal zone.

My candid opinion is that, the entire Black Satellites team might have under estimated the South Africans ability in attack when the chips seem to be down and made careless mistakes but on the whole Ghana can be proud of building a solid and confident team for the future

It is only ironical that having conceded one goal in the first three matches, the Satellites should concede as many as three in a single match but as they say, the end justifies the means. Ghana won all right and the nation should be happy that there is a bright chance to win gold at the expense of old rivals Cameroon on Sunday.

For sentimental reasons, I was rooting for a Ghana- Nigeria final but the fixture against Cameroon should be exciting since the two teams settled for a pulsating one all affair in the group stages matches

If you will recall that was the match the Satellites conceded a first minute goal but they fought back spiritedly to pull even through skipper Dede Ayew. It was a very important goal that kindled Ghana’s interest in the championships otherwise it would have been a rather disastrous start. Dede Ayew’s knack for scoring important goals showed in the way he quickly restored Ghana’s two goal margin lead when South Africa pulled a goal back midway through the second half. This goal really livened the spirits of the Satellites and in reverse dampened the fighting spirits of the South Africans albeit for a short while.

On the whole there is no doubt that Ayew, Ransford Osei, Adiyiah, Agyei, Incoom and Co constitute a generation of wonderfully talented players and if they could be guided to put sport in front of finances they would mature into world class professionals.

I borrowed this phrase of “putting sport in front of finances” from Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who lauded Brazilian super star Kaka for turning down that the monstrous offer of £500, 000 weekly salary to join Manchester City from AC Milan.

In the words of Wenger, “it was a good decision for the fans and the game. Can our world go on like that? Suddenly tomorrow someone buys say Liverpool and says that they want to pay £10 million monthly salary. This puts too much inflationary pressure on people who can’t compete. It kills everybody else” said Wenger. Well spoken, Frenchman.

I would like to add that this avaricious display of cash could kill football as a team sport. I recall the problems the Sportswriters Association of Ghana (SWAG) encountered in the early seventies when it introduced the goal king concept in its maiden annual awards.

Peter Lamptey, the prolific goal tender of Accra Hearts of Oak was the first recipient and unknowing to the SWAG , Lamptey’s colleagues especially those in the forward line were not too enthused about the award and the following season they completely cut the supplies to the legendary goal scorer who was completely stranded in attack.. The SWAG subsequently made an additional award for the top scoring club. Sanity then prevailed and Lamptey got his supplies all right and began to find the net once more.

Much as one may argue that the lifespan of a footballer could be cruelly cut short by a serious injury, too much money in their pockets could distract their attention and they could live in perpetual fear of being injured and losing their millions and thus unwilling to take risks; that could eventually turn football into a boring spectacle.

By the way, can somebody be kind enough to tell those sinking so much money into football clubs in England that there is a country called Ghana in West Africa that is in need of such generous sponsors for their cash strapped premier division clubs.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.