Nationwide discussions on the Black Stars’ narrow 1-0 win over Serbia and the subsequent 4-0 mauling of Australia by Germany suggest that the Stars could face a severe test of character against the Socceroos on Saturday June19.

Not surprisingly, opinion is sharply divided on the quality of play of the Black Stars and how they would fare against Australia. Those who think the Black Stars are too defensive minded to score a lot of goals seem to be in the minority. Popular opinion shows that the nation has a lot of confidence in the team to reach the knock-out stage at the least.  Asamoah Gyan, who was vastly vilified in the 2008 Nations Cup to the extent that his family was almost tempted to advise him to quit the game or at best stop wearing the national colours, is now a national hero. His exploits in the South Africa qualifying series and the Cup of Nations in Angola have made him the Black Stars most adored goal poacher. Analysts believe that if Gyan is able to capitalize on half chances like he did in the trial match against The Netherlands quite recently, he could set another record like he did in the last World Cup in Germany scoring the fastest goal.

It is remarkable to note that Serbian coach Rajevac Milovan has had to contend with a lot of criticism for his tactics that do not seem to produce too many goals. But the die- hards contend that since he keeps on winning, his system should not be a problem. Perhaps the problem would be how to counteract the combative nature of the Australian style of play. In the match against Germany, the Socceroos had three yellow cards and one red and this tells a lot.

What this means is that, Dede Ayew and his fellow ball jugglers must either be extra swift on the ball or adopt quick passes. With that heavy defeat at the hands of Germany, the Australians would naturally be the more aggressive side knowing fully well that another defeat would see their early exit from Mandela’s beloved country. Incidentally, the Germany- Serbia encounter would precede the Ghana- Australia match and since the results would have been known by then, there would be a lot of pressure on both Ghana and Australia to shine. And this is where sportsmanship will come to play.

The observation so far is that referees are being extremely liberal with the yellow and red cards. Players must therefore learn to play to the whistle, avoid extreme body contacts and any antics that might be seen in the eyes of the referee to be a trick to deceive him.

The word antic brings to mind the Serbian national coach who is called Raddy Antic.  If he were in Ghana, his name would have been given a lovely twist like his compatriot Rajevac Milovan who is simply called Milo –that well known food beverage. I was really tickled by the post match interview between the two Serbs on opposite sides speaking the same language.  I am going to find out whether this is a World cup record and I am anxious to see the two Germans- born Boatengs with the same biological father playing against each other in the Ghana- Germany match on June 23.

Surely South Africa 2010 has a lot of surprise packages and the long wait for this football extravaganza was worthwhile.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.

Goalkeeper Richard Kingson and forward player Dede Ayew are Ghana’s history makers in the ongoing World Cup in South Africa. Kingson, currently the most experienced Ghanaian international, first played alongside Dede Ayew’s father, Abedi Ayew Pele in the 1996 African Cup of Nations in South Africa. Actually, he was the third choice among Simon Addo and Nanabanyin Crentsil. Let’s give him that credit he was part of the squad.

Dede Ayew should find it interesting playing alongside his father’s play mate. This is what boxing legend Azumah Nelson would call “father and son”. And Dede who appears to be a carbon copy of Mexico’s Giovanni Dos Santos must be prepared to listen to wise counsel if his dribbling becomes excessive.

Handsome “baby face” Dos Santos was a real thorn in the flesh of South Africa with his deep penetrating and fearless outbursts in the opening match and I suspect  Dede Ayew would fall into that category when the Black Stars face Serbia in Rustenberg on Sunday. The boy is really courageous.

I am sure all members of Abedi Pele’s class of 1996 will back the young Dede to make it big at the World Cup, a competition where his illustrious father, with all his intricate skills never had the opportunity to participate.  Let me refresh your memory with members of that strong 1996 squad of Nanabanyin Crentsil, Richard Kingson, Richard Kingson, Frank Amankwah, Isaac Asare, Sam Johnson, Joe Addo, Osei Kuffuor, Afo Dodoo, Yaw Acheampong, Stephen Baidoo, Dan Addo, Mallam Yahya, Ibrahim Tanko, Odartey Lamptey, Ali Ibrahim, Abedi Pele, Yaw Preko, Felix Aboagye, Kwame Ayew, Tony Yeboah and C.K.Akunnor.

Most of these names might be fading out of Ghana’s football history but thanks to Abedi who has produced a chip off the old block, the squad will always come in for mention as a group that would have made Ghana’s presence felt at the world cup stage a long time ago.

Some of us are especially happy for Abedi that the intrinsic football talent in his son has gained national recognition thus dismissing the notion that the young boy was being favoured because of his father’s influence and international reputation.

Abedi Pele himself nearly suffered the same fate when he became a teenage sensation in the late seventies fully supported by the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) that prompted a patron of the association the late S.K.Mainoo to offer to sponsor his education up to the university level.

When Mr. Mainoo became FA chairman in 1981, he insisted on Abedi being given the chance in the Black Stars. Age group tournaments were then not in vogue and some of the coaches insisted Abedi was too young to feature for the Black Stars.  One major excuse for his exclusion was that “he spoiled formations and was a ball chaser (“ball kraman” in local parlance). The snag was that any time he came in as substitute he changed the pattern of play for the better- a situation that led to a famous retort by ace sports columnist Joe Aggrey challenging the coaches to show the type of tactics they were talking about.

To cut a long story short, S.K.Mainoo won the fight in the end and the coaches eventually had no regrets fielding Abedi who made the Black Stars squad for Libya 1982 at the age of 17 and subsequently played in four more Cup Nations Finals, twice as captain.

The maestro, as he is affectionately called by sports journalists, will be right in the thick of the crowd on Sunday to see the Black Stars attempt to make up for the rather poor show by West African neighbours, Nigeria against Argentina in a match that portrayed the intimidating presence of world number one footballer Lionel Messi.

It is hoped Kingson and his men at the rear would not be haunted by Serbia’s so- called tallest man in football, Nikola Zigic, who is reported to stand at 6ft 8 in (203m). Peter Crouch of England showed in the match against the well drilled US team how some tall men could be rendered ineffective.

It is my prayer that Kingson would not show any traces of poor anticipation like Mr. Green of England who will need a lot of courage to man the post in the Three Lions’ next assignment.

Those who are surprised at the World Cup results even at this infant stage have not seen anything yet. I have said several times that Africa is a land of surprises and South Africa 2010 will be full of upsets.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.

The mood of uncertainty that characterized the fate of Ghana’s national soccer team, Black Stars after their disastrous trial match against Holland, has now completely changed to a hopeful one following the splendid 1-0 win over Latvia on Saturday. Many of the doomsayers in the Ghanaian media who predicted that Ghana would be only tourists in South Africa are now full of praise for Coach Rajevac Milovan and his squad.

The absence of injured Michael Essien, the team’s talisman, is now hardly discussed. Not even the possible exclusion of experienced winger Sulley Muntari nursing an ankle injury seems to be a matter of concern. The belief now is that on the form shown against Latvia, the Black Stars can boast of enough talents to make their presence felt in South Africa. As an admirer of Muntari it hurts me that he is most likely to join the growing number of international stars like Drogba (Cote d’Ivoire), Ferdinand (England), Robben (Holland), Mikel Obi (Nigeria) and Ballack (Germany) who will miss the football showpiece. That is the unpredictable nature of sports.

Many Ghanaians are still wondering what might have accounted for the sudden change in attitude of the Black Stars from the extremely lethargic show against Holland to the businesslike approach against Latvia. It was quite a pleasant surprise. Everybody played his role well and if the referee had been a little more vigilant, I believe the first goal by Asamoah Gyan would not have been disallowed. It was a perfect long ranger and the goalie was completely unsighted. You needed no white cane to see that the whole circumference of the ball crossed the line bouncing beautifully in the net as shown by TV replays. A friend has said with some amount of authority that the goal was disallowed because Asamoah Gyan had been told by team officials to reserve all his goals for the real tournament. Perhaps we would need an official explanation since for the past days we have had conflictingly strange news coming from the Black Stars camp.

First it was Laryea Kingston who was to have nearly beaten up Serbian coach Milovan when the final 23 squad for South Africa was named excluding him. The FA official spokesman denied any such thing happened even though it was on all over the international media. Then there was this story of Sulley Muntari leaving the team hotel in Holland unceremoniously for London ahead of the team’s departure to seek medical attention with the Doctor in charge of Chelsea. It was said that he had earlier requested to have a room to himself and was not prepared to share a room with his any of his colleagues. It turned out to be a different story altogether and that official version is that Sulley actually went out with the Black Stars team doctor to have a scan on his suspected injured ankle. It is a big puzzle that conflicting stories continue to emanate from the camp of the Black Stars. What can the matter be? The Football Association (FA) must close their ranks and ensure maximum security for the team in South Africa before we hear stories of players being bribed with dollars to play matches of convenience. The FA officials should not lose sight of the fact that Ghana has a huge appetite for rumour mongering. Anyway what happened to the request by the players that their allowances should be kept a secret for reasons not too difficult to guess? There already publications that they will take home 115,000 dollars each after the first round matches. What about that?

Well the focus now is that the Black Stars have whipped the appetite of football loving Ghanaians to expect greater things to come and there should be no turning back.

By the way, whoever advised Black Stars newcomer Dominic Adiyiah to go in for that crazy hair cut has done a great disservice to his admirers back home. It reminds one of the infamous Red Skins that terrorized blacks in Britain decades ago. The young man should be advised not to copy blindly but focus on improving upon the talents the good Lord has given him.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.

Rajevac Milovan, the Serbian coach of Ghana’s national football team Black Stars, must be having sleepless nights following the Stars humiliating 4-1 defeat at the hands of Holland in a trial match on Tuesday.

With the high rating of Holland in world football, even the most optimistic Ghanaian football fanatic hardly expected a win for Ghana but the concern is the rather heavy defeat and the general output of certain usually reliable players who played well below their best. For example central defender John Mensah, affectionately called the “Rock of Gibraltar” was a pale shadow of himself, likewise winger Sulley Muntari and goalkeeper Richard Kingston who was unusually jittery in the posts.

There is a school of thought that most of the players were saving their limbs for fear of a last minute injury which could jeopardize their chances of being in South Africa for the World Cup.  This may be true but you could use the same argument for the Dutch who also did not appear to go all out but were content to practice some few tricks which worked perfectly especially the third goal which came straight from a corner kick.  No one can deny that Holland was a well knit side and you could see that they are really poised for South Africa 2010.

Even though the ordinary football fan may be extremely concerned, coaches don’t usually put too much premium in the score-lines of trial matches of this nature. The number of changes made by both sides showed that the technicians were still sorting things out. I believe Milovan has benefitted more from this exercise than his Dutch counterpart because the loopholes in the Black Stars team were so glaring that one would not need a white cane to see them.

It is hoped that in the final trial against Latvia in London on Saturday, Ghanaians would witness a much more inspiring performance. Unlike Holland, the Latvians will not be in South Africa and they would have nothing to lose if they go all out. The Black Stars should therefore expect a more robust opposition.  At this juncture, may I advise newcomer Dominic Adiyiah to watch his temperament. Many of his reactions to tackles and referee’s decisions are not sporting enough.

Meanwhile,I would like to recommend to Milovan and his players to shut their ears to all the wild discussions in the electronic media in Ghana in order to have a stable mind to pursue their goal. There is no doubt that the most vitriolic comments come from ill informed sources that threaten to undermine morale at this crucial stage to the World Cup.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports

FROM MY ARCHIVES

May 30th 2002: Cameroun’s World Cup team finally lands in Japan after a bizarre four day delay caused by an alleged dispute over bonus payments and the absence of flyover permits over Southern Asia.

It is strange that with all the superlatives being showered on Inter Milan manager  Jose Mourinho by the international media, not much attention is being given to the fine record by Cameroonian super star  Samuel Etoo who has won the Champions league with  two different  clubs  in two successive years.

It is true that Mourinho’s achievement in leading Inter Milan to be the first Italian club to win the elusive treble is first class. Indeed, Inter’s classic 3-1 win over Barcelona in the semi final and the 2-0 win against Bayern Munich in the final have made nonsense the notion that Mourinho is a defensive tactician. He is superb reader of the game who can make opponents look like robots.

Despite all these encomiums about Mourinho, I submit that E’too deserves honourable mention for playing vital roles in Barcelona’s European triumph in 2009 and Inter Milan’s success in 2010. On both occasions, the winning European champions had completed the double at home.  And both finals ended in 2-0 wins for E’too’s side. Can you beat that?

Don’t forget that in 2009, Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0 to win the Cup and in 2010 Inter Milan have beaten Bayern Munich 2-0. E’too scored the first goal in the match against Manchester United and against Bayern he supplied the ammunition with which Diego Milito got the killer goal for Inter.

E’too is definitely a shining example for African footballers that with hard work and dedication one can remain in top shape for a long time. He is really an inspiration and Cameroun has got a wonderful gem who will be a thrill to watch in the World Cup in South Africa.

I have already predicted that with surprises galore and records falling like nine pins in various competitions worldwide they could be signs of things to come and the 2010 World Cup could spring one of the biggest surprises in history.

England has had its fair share of records this season as Chelsea won the double for the first time in the club’s history and Blackpool earned Premiership status also for the first time. Bayern continued to dominate in Germany, ditto Barcelona in Spain and of course Inter Milan in Italy.

In my country Ghana, a relatively unknown club Aduana Stars from Dormaa Ahenkro in the Brong Ahafo region made history by winning the Premiership on their debut to halt the duopoly by Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak  who between them have won the 52 year old competition 41 times. Incidentally, no player from either Kotoko or Hearts merited selection for the World Cup in South Africa Aduana Stars goalkeeper Stephen Adams is among the provisional list announced by Coach Milovan Rajevac.

It may interest readers to note that for the first time in history the Brong Ahafo region will provide four teams for the next premier league season. Brong Ahafo Stars will be the latest addition to Aduana Stars, Bechem Chelsea and Berekum Arsenal.  You may not be too enthused with the foreign names adopted by some of these clubs but the fact remains that the pendulum of football supremacy is fast shifting to the Brong Ahafo region which should excite the great pioneering work by stalwarts like Agyeman Gyau, Adansi Fofie, Kwasi Owusu, Dan Owusu, Enoch Asumadu and the others.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.

FROM MY ARCHIVES

May 24th 1994: Brazil central defender Mozer will miss the World Cup finals in Germany because of medical problem.