Feature: Are we losing the substructure?

EVENTS currently taking place on the European transfer market are so intense that I was tempted to go European this week. Manchester United and Liverpool are as active as Chelsea have been in the past three seasons. Chelsea on the other hand were in a slumber, but with the acquisition of Malouda, they seem to be waking up. As for Arsenal, we would need a divine intervention next season. Football being what it is, you will never know.

My Editor insists I go local this week. The last time I discussed the junior national teams, my only consolation was the fact that the Meteors were on a clear path compared to the chaotic events surrounding the Starlets and Satellites. However, losing four straight games (0-1 to Nigeria, 2-4 to Iran, 0-1 to Cameroon and 0-2 to South Africa) doesn't inspire confidence. The Meteors team is the most relevant youth team since they provide immediate back up to our largely successfully Black Stars. The senior national team is settled for now. We can confidently name fifteen or sixteen regular players who would make the squad for CAN 2008. What we must be concentrating on is finding appropriate replacements and what I term Jokers or trump cards. In tournaments of these nature a team requires a player (or players) who can come on and with sheer enthusiasm, change the face of a game. This really works with host nations.

When Klinsmann chose untested Odonkor over Kuranyi, there was a near uproar in Germany but we all saw what Odonkor brought to the team at the Mundial. In 1990, Schillaci did the same for the Italian national team and ended up as the top scorer. A closer example was the influence of Joetex Frimpong, a “local” then plying his trade with Enyimba, when he came on in our crunch game with Burkina Faso in Kumasi. All those present at the Baba Yara Stadium would attest to the fact that we couldn't have won the game without him. Later he was criticised heavily for his showing at CAN 2006 and that eventually cost him his place at the World Cup. But any experienced coach would tell you that such players may not necessarily do well away from home but are crucial weapons on home grounds.

It is against this backdrop that I was expecting the Meteors to provide us with such a player- not necessary known internationally- that we would spring on our opponents when we are in dire straits. Some of the players I have in mind were Sadat Bukari, Michael Helegbe and Eric Gawu (but his plummeting form is making it increasingly unlikely).The Meteors are also suffering from the general malaise afflicting Ghana football unbridled transfer of raw and sometimes half baked players to mediocre foreign clubs. A list of Meteors players who have changed status since the team building started in 2006 is astonishing. Michael Helegbe, Anthony Annan, Jerry Akaminko etc. This makes team building difficult. Resisting the urge to believe the conspiracy theories floating around is becoming increasingly difficult. The theories are that there is a clique at the FA that ensures that “certain” players are selected to the various national teams. Again players from the northern part of the country are continuously marginalised in national team selection. One may ask why has the regular goalkeeper Nii Baah been “suddenly” replaced?

The theories are endless. But the pragmatic approach is always to identify the problem first then solutions found. How is the management committee structured- is there a problem? How can we make it more effective? Then the technical team. How have they fared so far? For example, how many league games in the previous season were the technical team able to watch? One gets the impression a team must play in Accra and its environs to be noticed. Teams like Berekum Arsenal and especially Ashgold played far better than a team like Liberty Professionals yet how many players from these clubs do you find in the national teams compared to Liberty professionals? I like Liberty for all the achievements in a relatively short time but having your head coach and assistant coach both handling national teams raises eyebrows and unnecessary conspiracy theories.

The situation with the Satellites is even worse. I felt humiliated watching them at the Toulon Tournament. They couldn't string four passes together, were disjointed and suddenly players like Emmanuel Clottey who had just won the goal king award looked so ordinary. We couldn't win a single game and on we went to South Africa to be beaten by Botswana. For the Starlets, unless a miracle happens in Korea, we would be humiliated.

As a country, what we should remember is that we can have a fantastic Black Stars but be without a substructure that would ensure that we produce more Appiahs and Essiens. The fate that has befallen Nigeria and Cameroon would happen to us. Cote d'iviore remains a country that we can emulate. They are set to dominate African soccer for the next decade or so if the rest of us don't wake up. The mess surrounding the league must be cleared up quickly for a new season to begin so we can unearth more talents. It had been a very disappointing week