Why poor planning by the GFA could cost the Black Stars

Some months ago I wrote an article explaining why I thought Ghana’s friendly match against Japan in Yokohama should be cancelled.

At the time, I was of the opinion that because of this said game, it will cut down preparation time for Black Stars head coach Kwasi Appiah ahead of the crucial 2014 World Cup qualifier against Zambia.

I was also of the opinion that we were mortgaging Ghana’s possible qualification for the World Cup on a few hundreds of thousands of dollars for a friendly match, when getting to Brazil will net us millions instead.

The President of the Ghana Football Association, Kwesi Nyantakyi called me a few hours after I published that article on my website, footy-ghana.com and said he wanted me to publish his side of the story with regard to why he thought that the Japan game would be beneficial to Ghana.

I did so, even though I disagreed with him at the time and I still disagree.

For instance, he said, “We agreed to play this match because we were aware that the top five African teams would be seeded in the final qualifying draw. We also knew that Nigeria was playing in the FIFA Confederations Cup and they could do well, which could alter our position. So we agreed to play the match on September 10 so that it reflects in the FIFA rankings on September 12, and since the draw is on September 15, it would greatly aid our cause in terms of being seeded.”

Now that Ghana had to go to Japan with a weakened squad and lose 1-3 to the Samurai Blues, was the objective of improving on our FIFA ranking achieved?

Indeed, which of the two games should we have focused on in terms of maintaining Ghana’s status as one of Africa’s top five teams; the Zambia game or the Japan one?

If a competitive win would give you more points on the FIFA ranking table, what sense did it make to agree to a friendly match against Japan, especially when reports reaching me indicate that the players were reluctant to go, hence the weakened team?

I know Appiah is trotting out the official line that the game was an opportunity to examine fringe players in the team, but that is at variance with Nyantakyi’s comments at the time that the game would boost Ghana’s FIFA rankings and it was important to do so so that Ghana does not fall out of the top five nations to be seeded for Thursday’s draw for the final qualifying round.

Indeed after Ghana scraped to a 2-1 win over Zambia, the GFA boss has also spoken publicly about how the Japan match would serve as a platform for fringe players to show what they can do.

So what made Nyantakyi change his tune suddenly?

I can tell you on authority that some Black Stars players were unhappy with the scheduling of the Japan friendly and even appealed to Appiah to see if the game could be cancelled, because most of the players feared that travelling half way around the world for such a friendly would only lose them their places in the starting eleven of their respective clubs on their return to base.

Indeed, I am reliably informed that Frank Acheampong, who scored Ghana’s only goal against Japan, was initially reluctant to travel with the team because he fears losing his place in the Anderlecht team for the UEFA Champions League which starts next week.

Apart from Michael Essien, who was excused because of his father’s unfortunate passing, team captain Asamoah Gyan, Andre Ayew and Kwadwo Asamoah, as well as Mubarak Wakaso amongst others all asked to be excused from travelling to Japan. So in the end, apart from the money, what was the real reason behind honouring such a match? Are we even considering the welfare of the players such that after such a taxing duel with Zambia, the players were made to travel back to Accra that very night en route to Japan?

The end result was that a set of reluctant and tired players took to the field against Japan and were promptly ripped apart.

Let anyone tell me that the 1-3 defeat would boost our FIFA rankings and my reply would be for the person to jump into the Akosombo Dam! Honestly I am amazed at such short sightedness from the GFA!!

Nyantakyi also justified the decision to schedule the Ghana v Zambia on a Friday and here are his comments: “We have played games on Friday before. I remember we played Congo in Kevin Prince Boateng’s last game for the Black Stars on a Friday, before travelling to South Korea for a friendly. We also played against Lesotho on a Friday. Besides, there is no technical basis to show that the boys would be affected. At any rate, the players would have done their pre-season preparations already and so would be fit, since they would be playing league games in September. The technical bench is ok with the arrangements so I do not think that there is any cause for worry.”

Well, after watching Ghana scrape to victory against a team I thought played far better than the Black Stars, I still beg to differ.

The Zambians were only undone by two brilliant finishes, but cohesively, were streets ahead of the Black Stars. So to say that there is no technical basis to show that the boys would be affected is neither here nor there!

The Appiah-led technical bench should have stood its grounds and protested against such an arrangement.

Again, Nyantakyi noted at the time that the Japan friendly would prepare Ghana for the final qualifying round. “That friendly will help to prepare the Black Stars for the qualifying round of the World Cup qualifiers so despite what others would say, this friendly match is very important.”

Well, I will say that I strongly disagree because first of all, most of our first team players were not even there!

Secondly, could we not have organized a friendly match here in Ghana against African opponents since it will be an African team the Black Stars will face in the final qualifying round?

Why must a weakened team travel across the world for a friendly for it to be touted as ideal preparations for the playoff rounds? Since the Black Stars will not face an Asian or European nation in the final round, why Japan?

Have you ever heard of a lead guitarist preparing for a performance with a violin rehearsal? Give me a break!!

Whilst Ghana was being taken apart in Yokohama, Nigeria, also through to the knock out phase, were thrashing Burkina Faso 4-1 in Kaduna on the same day.

This is after Nigeria beat Malawi 2-0 in Calabar over the weekend. Now that is what I call proactive planning on the part of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).

Now the GFA is repeating the same mistake because I am reliably informed that Ghana’s first leg of the play offs will probably take place on Friday October 11 2013 because Ghana will face Italy in a friendly on Tuesday October 15 2013 at Craven Cottage in West London in the UK.

So why can’t we wait until Ghana’s qualification for the World Cup is confirmed before we take on non-African nations in friendlies, especially when we will not have an African Nations Cup tournament next year?

Is it all about the money? And here I was thinking that the GFA hierarchy is not interested in short termism. I hate to think that I was wrong on that score, but clearly the GFA has misplaced its priorities and the sooner it did things right, the better Ghana’s chances of making it to Brazil next year.

All I am saying is that poor planning by the GFA could cost the Black Stars a place at the World Cup next year and so long term goals should be placed well ahead of short term financial targets, which frankly would lead us nowhere fast.