Black Stars Is Not A Desperate Team Without Kevin Boateng

I have heard worse since Kevin-Prince Boateng unceremoniously announced his sensational decision to quit the senior national team, the Black Stars, with the explanation that the physical demand of playing for both club and country at high levels is taking a toll on his health.

The midfielder argued in a statement sent to the Ghana Football Association that in order to remain healthy and to stay off injuries, he has consulted his doctors and family over the matter and has decided to excuse himself from national team duties because he is on a special training that he has to interrupt to honour national team invitations.

However, the comment of George Afriyie, GFA Executive Committee member to the effect that Boateng’s exit from the team would be a big blow to the Black Stars’ quest of winning next year’s Nations Cup is the worst of all the comments I have heard so far.

Granted, Keving Boateng is a good player or even an exceptional midfielder but to suddenly make him the archangel of the national team whose absence spells doom for the Black Stars is not only ridiculous but most destructive to the cohesion of the team, especially at a time when we need the country to express its confidence in the rest of the squad.

Kevin is good but he alone does not make a team, nevertheless a successful one. A team requires eleven members who must play together as a unit - in defense, in midfielder and in attack.

The exceptional they are as individuals, the better but playing together as a unit is much more important than the individual brilliance of any single player.

That is why Argentina continue to perform badly even with Lionel Messi in the team while Barcelona has enjoyed one success after another because the Spanish giants play better like a unit than the La Albiceleste have done.

To therefore hear the GFA Executive Committee member talking as if Kevin Boateng single handedly qualified the Black Stars for the Nations Cup is not only disappointing but insulting to the Black Stars squad, both past and present.

Oh, did I mention Prince Boateng could even be an exceptional player? But for all it is worth, he is just another player.

In any case, how many games has Kevin Boateng played for the Black Stars since he joined AC Milan, which has been so physically demanding to be a health risk?

The midfielder played a couple of friendlies and five games for the Black Stars at the 2010 World Cup when his English side Portsmouth had already been relegated and where his time had mostly been spent on the bench.

At AC Milan, the former Germany youth international had played how many times for the Black Stars, two or three times and the dude is already tired playing for both club and country at a high level?

The spite of Kevin Boateng is indeed painful but then, this would not be the first nor the last time a player with Ghanaian roots ignores the national team.

The difference with Kevin Boateng is that he had the opportunity to get unto the team and fulfill his dream first. But then, nothing wrong with an opportunist being over-ambitions, is there?

The midfielder has conveniently forgotten that a player does not necessarily get injuries by only playing international football because if Kevin is quitting the Black Stars in order stay off injury, he would only be having pipe dreams.

How would you compare Kevin-Prince Boateng and Argentine international Lionel Messi? Which of these two players should be complaining about the demands of club and international football being risk to their health?

But Messi has even gone on to represent Argentina’s Olympic team in China in 2008 when he was already in the Argentine national team and an integral member of the Barcelona national team and never whispered about physical demands and health risks.

Indeed, as Kevin Boateng is complaining about physical exhaustion and health risks from playing club and international football at a high level, the likes of Wayne Rooney is battling Manchester United coach, Alex Ferguson in an effort to represent Britain at the London Olympic Games next year.

Bear in mind that Wayne Rooney is practically carrying Manchester United on his shoulders in the English Barclays Premier league and on the international level, he is also the star man for the Three Lions.

Kevin Boateng can therefore not use physical demands of playing club and international football at a high level being a health risk. How long has he been playing at this level anyway, just a season and a half?

Playing for the Black Stars should be a privilege and an honour and with or without Kevin Boateng, Ghana would not come up short on players, especially not midfielders.

There are still many good and exceptional players in the queue waiting their turn to represent the Black Stars and as far as I am concerned, Kevin’s retirement from the Black Stars would only offer opportunity for Ghana to discover another player, for instance like Agyeman Badu.

He may not be playing regularly for Udinese compared to Kevin at AC Milan, but Agyeman Badu has been more effective and influential in the national team set up than Kevin Boateng ever deed.

Besides, playing in the national team is transient, a passing moment for every player and if Kevin decides he does not wish to be part of the team, let us leave him in peace to enjoy his newfound fame.

If the Black Stars did not miss him on the way to qualifying for the Nations Cup, I daresay the team would not need him to win the cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next year.