GREAT SHOW, USEFUL EXPERIENCE AND A BRIGHT FUTURE

Ghana versus Australia

Since the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the Black Stars have been engaging in some high profile friendly matches.

We first played against Togo; we then travelled to the Far East where we conquered Asia by beating the football tigers of Japan and South Korea and finally came face-to-face with the Socceroos of Australia which ended one all.

Of the four post-World Cup friendly matches played by the Black Stars, I think the last match was the most competitive.

Though the Australians came to the match without some key players, the team was very athletic, skilful, tactically disciplined, resilient and robust.

They offered the Black Stars a good opposition and a run for their money.

The Black Stars equally demonstrated individual and team brilliance.

What appeared to be an ordinary performance in the first half was turned into a display of excellence in the second half where the players rediscovered their rhythm and confidence to dominate play.

Coach Claude Le Roy turned the threats posed by the Australians in the first half into real opportunities for the Black Stars in the second half.

Goalkeeper Richard Kingson confirmed that he is one of the best keepers in the world.

His anticipation, reflexes and responsiveness to stimuli stands him out as a towering pillar in the posts.

His able assistant, Sammy Adjei equally proved that he is a ready and worthy substitute any time, any day.

In the absence of the regular central defensive pair of Illiasu and John Mensah, Francis Dickoh and Eric Addo stood in very well.

Given more playing time, I think Francis and Eric will combine more effectively.

There were understandably some initial difficulties in playing the two gentlemen together, however, as the game progressed, they began to show more confidence thus combining effectively.

Hans Adu Sarpei, as usual played his defensive role very well. Hans may not appear flamboyant in play, yet he is very efficient.

He is one of the guys whose efficiency and effectiveness may not be noticed by all, but in the end he plays according to tactical instructions.

Interestingly, Hans, Eric and Francis started their professional football careers in Europe. Their level of tactical discipline is very high. Habib Mohammed is one of our young and promising defenders.

He made his debut for the Black Stars during the World Cup and he continues to show good form in all the matches he has played so far.

Our midfield quartet of Appiah, Essien, Sulley and Laryea is solid and comparable with any good midfield in the world. In the match with the Australians, our midfield was momentarily eclipsed in the first half.

The strategy of the Australian coach, which worked to perfection, was to cut all supplies to Essien.

Accordingly, three players marked Essien in the first half and succeeded in denying him access to the ball.

Upon realizing this tactical and the strategic position of the Australians, coach Le Roy re-defined the role of Essien and created more space for him, hence his mobility and enhanced effectiveness in the second half.

Appiah, Laryea and Sulley all lifted their game in the second half.

Peter Ofori-Quaye made his return to the Black Stars after a three-year absence.

He gave a good account of himself and an indication that with more matches he may make a successful bid to justify his inclusion.

Junior Agogo was a delight to watch.

He has remained consistent in all recent matches of the Black Stars.

Apart from establishing himself as the most valuable player during the match, the young man has sent out strong signals that he has a claim to first team position in the Black Stars.

Asamoah Gyan continues to improve match after match.

His tailor-measured cross which was tapped in by Agogo after an initial misunderstanding between the Australian keeper and his defender, epitomized his good form.

The match against Australia demonstrated the resilience of the team and the determination of the players to play as a team and grow from strength to strength. It was a world class performance by both teams.

Coach Claude Le Roy had told me that it is his plan to build a team that can equally boast of a good substitutes’ bench.

Ghana had a terrible experience at the last African Cup of Nations in Egypt when the absence of four key players cost us qualification to the second round of the competition.

The Australian match has at least given an indication that some players who have not been featuring regularly could command first team positions.

I wish to congratulate the players, management and technical team for a good show.

We must however, not rest on our oars. We have to re-focus our attention on the task of building a formidable team that will conquer Africa in February 2008.

In accordance with our key obligation to be transparent and accountable, I will like to announce that there was no appearance fee for the Ghana versus Australia match.

We knew of this well in advance and had the option to pull out of the deal.

However, the motivation to honour the match was the opportunity to bring our boys together and once again play a match as part of our preparations for the 2008 CAN.

The terms for the match as agreed with the organizers were as follows:

• Air tickets for the players and officials.
• Hotel accommodation.
• Feeding and internal transport.
• We would also be entitled to a part of the gate revenue after all expenses have been paid.

After the match at Loftus Road Stadium, London, a minor incident occurred, which has unfortunately found prominence in a section of the British media.

Whilst the team was waiting for the arrival of the team bus to carry them to the hotel, one of our players, Haminu Dramani received a message at the waiting area inside the Stadium (near the dressing room) that his brother who lives in London had come to look for him at the entrance of the stadium.

He was accordingly escorted to the entrance by a steward of the Stadium.

He met his brother. Whilst Haminu and his brother were engaged in fraternal discussions, the thick crowd of Ghanaians who were waiting outside to catch a glimpse of the team suddenly discovered him and surged around for autographs, photographs and interviews.

The crowd grew uncontrollably large around Dramani.

Another steward from the Stadium who found the crowd to be a threat to security around the entrance to the stadium decided to push the Ghanaians around to move further away from the entrance.

In the ensuing struggle, he pushed Dramani together with the crowd.

Realizing that the push could have been in error, Dramani quickly identified himself to the steward as one of the players from Ghana.

The steward would not budge. He continued to push away Dramani together with the crowd.

The steward who sent Dramani out intervened and yet this ‘defiant’ steward would not listen to any instructions contrary to what he had set his mind to do.

Dramani then managed to wriggle himself back into the waiting area and protested to the steward that it was unfair and unprofessional for him to be subjected to such a treatment after he had identified himself as a player from Ghana which identification was corroborated by another steward from the stadium.

The steward ignored Dramani’s protest and rather reported him to the British Metropolitan Police.

We consider the treatment meted out to our player as being unfair.

We have accordingly decided to lodge official complaints to that effect with the British Metropolitan Police and the management of the Loftus Road Stadium, Queens Park Rangers Football Club.

An investigation must be carried into the conduct of the said steward and adequate remedial measures put in place to forestall the recurrence of this unfortunate incident.

We are uncertain whether such a treatment could have been given to any of the players from Australia or a player of any British club.

The attitude of the steward is hereby condemned unreservedly.


FIFA FUTURO III Course

The FIFA FUTURO III Course for Referee Instructors ended in Accra last Friday.

The course brought together referee instructors from Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea and Ghana.

They were given refresher courses in modern trends and developments in refereeing.

There were three instructors namely Fernando Tresaco Gracia from the FIFA Referees Department, Linus Mba from Nigeria and Mr. Bester Kalombo from Malawi.

The participants showered lots of praises on their instructors for a good job well done. This is the second time in two years that Ghana has hosted a similar course.

African football shall be very busy within the next four years and so this course was more timely than ever. We shall host the CAN in 2008 and the World Cup in 2010.

Referees who are key to the game will need courses of this nature to equip them with the requisite skills for the African and World Cups.

We are very grateful to FIFA for the usual support to the development of the game in Ghana and Africa.


Special Project for Africa

FIFA has recognized that football associations in Africa need to be supported to host the 2010 World Cup successfully.

An initiative dubbed “Special Project for Africa” has therefore been launched to provide support for domestic leagues in member African nations.

Premier Division Clubs will be meeting to discuss the problems of the league and what FIFA can do to strengthen domestic competitions.

The ultimate objective of this exercise is to ensure that the leagues are competitive to produce good players for the national teams.


The Junior National teams

The Black Starlets are returning from Egypt today (Tuesday, November 21), where they undertook a training tour to sharpen their skills for the last qualifying matches for the African Under- 17 competition in Togo, 2007.

We will play Cote d’Ivoire on the 26th of November, 2006.

The Black Meteors are scheduled to travel to France for a training programme in Bastia.

The plan is to provide the needed exposure for the All African Games and Olympic Qualifying matches.


The Black Queens

The Black Queens returned home after a brilliant show at the 5th African Women’s competition in Nigeria.

The young girls won silver and thus qualified for the Women’s World Cup in China 2007.

We need to give the team some training opportunities to polish them up before the World Cup.


The Executive Committee

The Executive Committee of the FA will convene for the last meeting of the year on 30th November 2006 in Accra.

The agenda, as circulated among members reads as follows:

• Regulations of the Association
• Reports from the Regional Association
• World Cup Prize Money
• Review of the Committees of the FA
• National teams
• Any other Business.


Business and Development Plan

Implementation of the plan is underway. We have successfully carried out training sessions for coaches, referees, administrators and sports medical personnel in Cape Coast, Takoradi, Ho, Koforidua, Kumasi and Sunyani.

The laying of junior structures have also been done in the same regions.

We will cover the entire country by January 2007. The next line of activity is the regional and national competitions, which will be held next year for the three-age categories for boys and girls.

These are under 12, under 15 and under-17 for boys and girls.

The objective of this activity is to produce a pool of players for utilisation by our clubs and also lay a strong foundation for the junior national teams.

One important component of the Business Development Plan is the mobilisation of resources through corporate sponsorship.

We have made proposals to certain key corporate institutions and hope to receive favourable responses from them pretty soon.

In the near future, I shall undertake a review of the plan so that an objective analysis will be done to identify our achievements and failures and steps that have to be taken to improve the lot of the FA.


Inspection of CAN 2008 facilities by CAF team

A CAF delegation paid a working visit to Ghana in the past week to inspect facilities for the 2008 CAN.

The delegation comprised Messrs Slim Aloulou, Weber Gagg and Suleiman Habuba.

They were generally satisfied with the rate of construction of the Stadia, upgrading of hotel facilities, broadcast arrangements and general organisation and preparation for the event.

There needs to be a greater will and determination to ensure that the good works started by the Government and the LOC are completed successfully.

As a Member of the LOC, I am aware of the sacrifices and hard work that have gone into the preparations for the 2008 CAN.

From the position of an outsider, the construction of the Stadia may appear to be the physical edifice and yardstick for the measurement of the work of the LOC.

However, a lot has gone into security, transportation, accommodation, functions, ushers, media broadcast arrangements just to mention a few.

Dr. Kofi Amoah and the LOC must be commended for a good work so far.


Contempt of Court

The GFA and five others including myself have been charged with contempt of court.

The rest of the contemnors are the PLB, Messrs Fred Pappoe, Randy Abbey, Kofi Nsiah, Abra Appiah and Ampim Darko.

We are charged with willfully defying an order of injunction restraining the GFA from proceeding with the 8th week of the Onetouch Premier League matches.

Our solicitors have filed an affidavit in opposition.

The GFA is generally a law-abiding institution. We will not behave in any manner that will slightly or remotely suggest that we have disrespected the decision or order of any court of Ghana.

We believe in the rule of law and the authority of the judiciary.

In order not to risk being cited for contempt, I do not intend to comment on the case since it is still pending in court.

I am however convinced that individually and collectively, the contemnors are not guilty of contempt.

Sporting Regards.


Kwesi Nyantakyi

(President of the Ghana Football Association)

November 21, 2006