Zumdick Explains Difficulties

Accra, Oct 3, GNA - Ralph Zumdick, Head Coach of the senior national team, Black Stars has laid bare some difficult decisions he will have to take in order to deal with the tight schedules of the Stars and the Black Meteors. In an interview with the GNA Sports in Accra, the coach said the current timetable for the two teams is so tight that he will visibly have to shuttle from one end to another to keep pace.

The coach is already in Abuja with the National under 23 team to participate in the All African Games, which starts from October 4 to 18 to be followed by the Stars participation in the Afro Asian Games in India from October 24 to November 1. From the India and Abuja assignments the Meteors will take on their South African counterparts in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games qualifier on October 26 while the senior national team take on Somalia in a World Cup qualifier in November. To handle the situation the Coach has proposed sending a locally-assembled squad to the Afro Asian Games comprising of players who are above age 23.

For the Olympic games qualifier, Coach Zumdick planned using players who participated in the All African Games with four foreign-based ones. He said the match against South Africa will be very crucial since it will largely determine who picks the group's only slot for the Athens 2004 Games. Coach Zumdick said the match is also important since Ghanaian teams have found it difficult beating South African teams who appear much more organised in terms of infrastructure. "We, therefore, hope to put our house in order before the match by ensuring that at least the our pitch is in excellent condition to allow us to play the ball on the turf where we would have comparative advantage over them"

For the Stars, Coach Zumdick warned Ghanaians not be blindfolded by the fact that both encounters against the Somali would be played in Ghana and therefore things would be easy. He said it has now become a dangerous phenomenon all over the world playing against "minnows" who take extra motivation into such games. Coach Zumdick who was recently appointed coach for the Black Stars and Black Meteors on a three-month trial basis after the exit of fellow German Burkard Ziese, faces his first task in Nigeria.

The Coach who is very familiar to the Ghanaian terrain having coached Kumasi Asante Kotoko to the finals of the African Cup Winner Cup and later Kumasi-based King Faisal, said the current crop of players in camp are arguably the best on the local scene who can bring honour and glory to the country. He said he is not going into the Games expecting miracles but rather he is going to work hard and take one match at a time and " should we win the gold, I will not be surprised." The Coach said he is aware of the high expectations of Ghanaians any time national teams play but said it is also important for the nation to know that "we are in a difficult group with Cameroon, Egypt and Algeria".