Arday, a true patriot seeks total support to succeed

Accra, Sept 15, GNA - Coach Sam Arday, the newly appointed stop-gap coach of the senior national team, the Black Stars has asked for the total support of all to enable him succeed. Speaking to the GNA Sports on Wednesday, coach Arday said he did not hesitate when approached for the job because Ghana, his country needs his services and that calling supersedes everything.

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) on Tuesday appointed Coach Sam Arday as the stopgap coach of the Stars with the responsibility of preparing the team for their World Cup qualifier against DR. Congo on October 10 in Ghana Coach Arday's appointment came almost a week after the sudden departure of the Portuguese coach, Mariano Jeronimo Barreto who took up a new appointment with C.S. Maritimo in the Portuguese League.

Coach Arday before his appointment was the Technical Director of the Gomoa Feteh Feyenoord Soccer Academy, currently campaigning in the National Premier League. He said he hopes the same enthusiasm and importance that he attached to the national call would be equally matched by all to ensure total victory on the day. "To me, I have only one Ghana and hence I am prepared to contribute my quota anytime I am called upon to ensure that we all achieve our shared objective of going to the World Cup".

On his plans for the match, Coach Arday said he would soon submit his programme to the GFA and said even though his services is just for one match nothing would be left to chance. He said there would not be major changes in the team since that has the tendency of breaking down cohesion. "All I am going to do is to look at the team's performance in their last match and look at one or two places that needs to be improved to make the team more potent" "Presently I am not thinking of inviting many players, what I have in mind is to select ten locals and the same number of foreign based players for the match".

Coach Arday said he expects discipline; respect, commitment and the desire from all invited players to take instructions since that is the only way the team can succeed and achieve the desired results. In terms of players to make his team, the Coach said he is lucky because the league is just about to resume and that would afford him the opportunity to monitor most of the local players and see the ones that would fit into his game plan. The Coach said in the case of the foreign-based players, he would contact a player-monitoring agency in Europe to give him the names of players who are performing well for their respective clubs before are invited.

Coach Arday's success in coaching gained him the Nation's "Order of the Volta Award" Civil Division and is well remembered for his exploits in the FIFA Under-17 Soccer Tournament in Ecuador in 1995. Coach Arday is credited for inventing the famous "Multi-System" which he executed to perfection leading to the annexation of the trophy by Ghana in 1995 for the second time. Prior to this feat, Coach Arday was responsible for the success of the nation at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games in Spain when he guided the national Under-23 team, the Black Meteors to pick a bronze medal in the soccer category.

Coach Arday's first romance with the Stars was in 1998 and was on the bench of the Stars that fought back from two goals down in a nerve-racking World Cup qualifier against Morocco at the Kumasi Sports Stadium to draw two all in 1998. In the same year, he assisted Dutch coach, Rinus Israel to handle the Black Stars at the Nation's Cup in Burkina Faso, which ended in a fiasco resulting in his resignation.