Dutch Coach To Take Over Afranie?s Job

The short reign of E.K Afranie as Head Coach of the senior national team the Black Stars may soon be over despite some impressive performances.

Latest by the 15th of January, the job that was abandoned by Milan Zivadinovich and ?caretakered? by Coach Afranie will be occupied substantively by an expatriate!

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is buckling under intense pressure to come out with a substantive Coach out of the current number of eight coaches who have as at yet applied for the job.

More intense is the pressure to bench the idea of picking a local coach thus effectively ruling out caretaker E.K Afranie, Mohammed Polo and Abdul Razak, all locals Coaches wishing to lead the Black Stars.

The six other Coaches all with tall and impressive CVs include former Black Stars Coach Buckhard Ziese a German, Carlos Cavagnaro an Argentine, Dutchman Willem Leushuis as well as Former Angolan national team Coach Manuel Concalves.

Credible information gathered at the GFA has it that of the lot, Willem Leushuis stands tall though Bukard Ziese appears the most favored despite his checkered job experiences after his fairy tail with the Black Stars!

It is not too clear what is swaying the G.F.A wildly in the favor of the Dutchman but it appears that his highly impressive CV and disciplinary record is the basic reason.

Despite the fact that his coaching career has been confined mostly to his native land, his immense experience as a coach which has seen him lead the likes of PSV Eindhoven and Willem II (U20) to win their respective leagues in Holland and lately Al Jazira of UAE as well as Qadisa Sporting Club of Kuwait to win the President?s Cup speaks volumes of his capabilities.

As a football recruit for Newcastle United, Willem is said to have made laudable recruitment for the team and is particularly credited with having a good eye for African players notably Nigerian born British Shola Amoebe.

Perhaps that makes up for his very little knowledge of the African terrain a fact that will make the competition more intense for him when the likes of Buckhard Ziese and Manuel Concalves (both African success stories) are called.

Buckhard appears a favorite of the over 20 million Ghanaian soccer fanatics but least moves the appointing body of the G.F.A basically because of his joblessness and the whirlwind of controversy that revolves around him.

Little can be said of the others who are all but very experience Coaches seeking to make a point with Ghana?s pool of underachieving talents.

A paragraph gleaned from Willem?s application to the G.F.A has it that he is bent on taking Ghana to the World Cup in Germany come 2006, a line that has been used too often by all the applicants it is turning out to be a clich?.

For now the odds appear in favor of the Dutchman but from now until the 15th of January when the G.F.A will make its intentions clear by appointing a substantive Coach care must be taken not to over emphasize on getting a Coach only, since that is not the only reason why Ghana?s senior national team has not been making it big on the World stage.