SELLAS TETTEH - A case for local coaches

MANY soccer enthusiasts are of the opinion that the Black Stars played well in the 0-1 loss to the Socceroos of Australia last week under the tutelage of coaches Sellas Tetteh and Akwasi Appiah. I honestly never thought the Stars without Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari, Asamoah Gyan, Hans Adu Sarpei, Richard Kingson and Quincy Owusu Abeyie will perform that well but they proved me wrong and played one of their best games I've seen in recent times. Kwabena Yeboah hit the nail right on the head when he opined: “there is nothing Claude LeRoy could have added to the team.” This brings the argument of who should be the next Black Stars coach into perspective. Personally, I favour a local coach to take over since we do not have the financial wherewithal to hire a top class coach.

In my candid view, I believe one of the reasons why we choose young coaches as assistants is for them to acquire the needed experience from the so called “experienced expatriates” to prepare them to take over after they are gone. Sellas Tetteh, as least, should be made to hold the forte for us to see what he can do. He may not be the best local coach around but his association with the Black Stars over the years put him a shade above others to take over. His rapport with the players is strong; he relates well with the other technical men and understands the local game better than the foreigner who is coming. I will therefore laud the GFA President, Kwesi Nyantakyi and the other officials for having enough confidence in coaches Sellas Tetteh and Akwasi Appiah in giving them the responsibility of handling the Black Stars first three World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Libya, Gabon and Lesotho respectively. My humble advice is for the two coaches to be hired on a permanent basis should they excel in their three match spell. They should also be given the same support and incentives we give to the foreigners and let's see what they can bring on board.

It still baffles me why Nigeria sacked Austin Eguavoen and later hired him as an assistant to Berti Vogts? This is a man who took over the Super Green Eagles after they had failed to qualify for the World Cup and took them to Egypt 2006 (Africa Cup of Nations) to win the bronze medal. Was it not only fair to give him the necessary support to carry on with the job? Stephen Keshi was a foreigner in Togo but as an African, he qualified Togo to their first World Cup only to be replaced by Otto Pfister. This is how far colonialism and neo-colonialism has brought us. Let's narrow ourselves down to Ghana. When Milan Živadinovi? was coach of the Black Stars, he had an official car at his disposal but after he left us unceremoniously and Coach Afranie took over as caretaker, the car was taken away. Why? Because he's not an European or a white man. Just recently, we blindly supported Claude LeRoy to the level that he convinced us to hire his “buddy” Herve Renard to be the physical instructor of the Black Stars with a salary of close to $10, 000, knowing very well that the players' physical conditioning is worked on at their various clubs. The funny aspect was that the physical trainer who had been given an apartment and an official car was virtually doing nothing with respect to the players' physique since they were assembled two or at best three days before a match.

Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah believed so much in the capability of the black man and therefore sent C.K. Gyamfi to coaching courses abroad and it paid off when he won us our first Nations Cup in 1963. The knowledge he acquired helped us so much that he went on to win two more Nations Cup trophies in 1965 and 1982. Sellas and Akwasi Appiah should also be paid in the region of the $10,000 to $20,000 that is being paid to these foreigners. They should also be given apartments and official cars to use and I can assure you that they WILL deliver. I rest my case but will someone explain to me why Fatau Dauda was dropped from the Black Stars squad that played against Australia as well as the team for the Libyan game over the weekend in Kumasi. Is it because of the mistake he made against Togo? How can we drop the finest that we have on the local scene? Goalkeepers make mistakes and will continue to make them as long as they remain human. Why do we always want to victimize people? First it was Dr. Engmann and now Fatau Dauda has paid the price. Meanwhile when the officials makes mistakes, they still hold on to their posts. What did the FA did do Claude LeRoy when he virtually handed Cameroon victory during the Nations Cup due to poor tactics and selection?