In this post, I chronicle Ghana’s journey through qualification for the mundial focusing on the twists and turns and the reason why Kwesi Appiah had proved himself.
By Ing. George-Patrick Bediaku
The road to qualification has been murky. Ghana is about to realize the dream of making a third successive appearance at the FIFA World Cup, this time to be held at the home of beautiful soccer….and the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. I dare say many individuals need Ghana to qualify for the mundial NOT just for the beautiful game of football. Many Ghanaians salivate at the prospect of visiting the home of the wildest carnivals, beautiful beaches, beautiful wo….wait, wait a minute. Has Ghana qualified? Will Ghana qualify?
One thing is for sure. Ghana has shaped its own destiny quite well. And of course, under the tutelage of Kwesi Appiah.
The Journey so far
By virtue of Ghana’s high ranking in the July 2011 FIFA Ranking, they did not take part in the CAF First Round 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification. The first round consisted of 12 home-and-away ties, and featured the 24 lowest ranked teams in Africa. The winners of these series proceeded to the second round.
The Second Round is where it really began for Ghana. The July 2011 FIFA Ranking was used to seed the teams and Ghana was seeded in Pot 1 alongside top teams like, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon among others.
Ghana was placed in Group D with then defending AFCON 2012 Champions Zambia, Sudan and Lesotho.
Ghana’s first points were picked at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi, in what has become the famous (or infamous?) ‘Floodlights incident’. Ghana hosted Lesotho on June 1, 2012 and won by seven (7) unanswered goals.
Meanwhile, Sudan had recorded a 2-0 win at home over champions Zambia in the Al-Hilal Stadium, Omdurman. We will find out soon why this was a worthy of mention.
Ghana’s next game was eight days later, June 8, at the newly-opened 40,000-capacity Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola. Ghana lost the game by a lone Christopher Katongo goal.
At this point, Ghana topped Group D by virtue of a better goal difference despite having the same points (3 points) as Zambia. But in October, things turned around.
After Zambia registered a protest, FIFA awarded Zambia a 3-0 win as a result of Sudan fielding the ineligible player Saif Ali in Sudan’s 2-0 win over Zambia on June 2.
This dealt a heavy blow to Ghana’s chances.
Fast-forward to March 2013, after a disappointing showing at the 2013 AFCON in South Africa, Ghana had a plan going forward. Win all remaining four matches. Ghana had successive home and away ties against Sudan and an away tie with Lesotho. Then a final Second Round game against now dethroned champions Zambia.
Again, the home tie against Sudan was played in what is now referred to as Ghana’s spiritual home (football-wise), the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi. And trust the football fans in Kumasi to pack up that 38,000-capacity stadium. That, coupled with the fact that the fans are closer to the field than at the Accra Sports Stadium, meant that an intimidating atmosphere would be created and would favour Ghana.
On 24th March, Ghana hosted and convincingly beat Sudan, 4-0. Gyan, who had relinquished his captain band to the returning Sulley Muntari, was on the score sheet, with rising star Mubarak Wakaso, Abdul Majeed Waris (who got his debut goal) and Emmanuel Agyemang Badu.
The first twist
What is necessary to state at this point is that, Lesotho had done Ghana a huge favour by getting a 1-1 draw with Zambia. Zambia still led the group with 7 points, Ghana followed with 6 points. But Zambia dropped points.
On to the next one. June 8. Al-Merrikh Stadium, Omdurman, Sudan. Ghana recorded a 3-1 away win over Sudan. Captain Asamoah Gyan’s brace helped him equal and surpass Ghana’s standing record topscorer, Abedi Pele. Abedi’s record was 33 goals, Gyan now had 34 goals. Sulley Muntari was also on the score sheet.
Meanwhile, Zambia’s 4-0 thrashing of Lesotho meant Ghana was far from comfort. Zambia still led the group with 10 points, Ghana second with 9 points.
The second twist
The penultimate game of the Second Round was on Sunday June 16, at the Setsoto Stadium, in Maseru, Lesotho. Ghana won that game by two unanswered goals, Rennes defender John Boye opened the scoring and Captain Asamoah Gyan extended his record to 35 goals. But Ghana was most overjoyed because of what happened in Ndola the day before.
On Saturday June 15, Sudan held home side Zambia to a 1-1 score in the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium. This meant that Ghana leap-frogged Zambia in the group standings. Ghana now topped Group D with 12 points and a +14 goal difference, and Zambia followed with 11 points and a +8 goal difference.
The Saga of the Returnees…
Another thing that has featured prominently in the tale of the Black Stars’ qualification journey, is the return of players who ‘retired’ from international duty, for various reasons. The four players in question are the Olympique Marseille duo, the Ayew brothers, Andre and Jordan, Schalke’s Kevin-Prince Boateng and Chelsea’s Michael Essien.
After the intervention of the President of Ghana, HE John Dramani Mahama, and the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Ayew brothers decided to call off their retirement and announce their availability to be called up for national duty.
The issue of Kevin-Prince Boateng is another magnet of varied opinions. Many say he uses Ghana, he chooses which games or periods are prestigious enough for him to partake in, cue the 2010 World Cup and 2014 World Cup. It’s a whole minefield for another discussion.
Not helping his case has been his inability to feature for Ghana after his return. Boateng did not play in the Ghana-Zambia game in Kumasi (which Ghana won 2-1) and the reason brought forward by the GFA at the time was that he had aggravated an injury in his troubled knee. Then on his return to his German side, Schalke, Boateng explained to reporters that the “hard-surfaced pitches in Ghana” was the reason why he did not play.
“My knee didn’t feel quite right. The pitch wasn’t such a good surface to play on because it was a bit hard,” he told reporters on his return to Germany to resume club duties with Schalke.
“That’s why the manager and I agreed that I would not play.”
Then with ‘coincidental’ timing, Boateng again was not available for the Ghana-Egypt clash, again at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi. Ghana went on to win by an outstanding 6-1.
But the questions kept coming. “Is it really coincidence?”, “Will he play when we don’t play in Ghana?”, “Do we really need Kevin?”
Then there is Michael Essien. This man has suffered a couple of career-threatening in his time on national team duty. He informed the Ghana Football Association (GFA) that he wanted to take some time off to regain fitness and a more permanent place at club level. Yet some people would like to refer to him as disloyal and unpatriotic. I personally feel that is harsh because Essien has given dedicated service to Ghana for years.
Essien incurred more wrath when he failed to make an announcement after his Charity Game in Accra, as he promised. But when he did make his return in the 2-1 win over Zambia, all of Ghana could attest to his quality and experience.
For those who say we have come this far without these four individuals, and so we do not need them, I ask. Do you think the Black Stars, as it is now, is world class? Do you think we can get better? I answered yes to those questions. And coach James Kwesi Appiah has said that he would prefer to have the best pool of talents to be able to choose from. But has also made it clear that no one has an assured walk-in into the team setup.
“It’s important that all Ghanaian players make themselves available,” Appiah told http://www.ghanafa.org.
“Once you get everyone available, it’s up to you the coach to decide whether you need a player at a particular time. It depends on the game and the tactics that you are going to play, if they can fit in you bring them in but as to whether they will by all means be in doesn’t come in,” he said.
Exodus 14:13b
On Monday, September 16 2013, at the draw held by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Egypt, Ghana was drawn against Egypt in their last hurdle on their way to Brazil 2014. The first of the two-legged playoff tie was to be played in Ghana.
Many were worried about this tie. To start off, Egypt are seven-time African champions. More frightening was the fact that Egypt were the only side on the continent to have a 100% winning record in qualifying.
To cut a long story short, Ghana romped over Egypt, mauling them by six-goals-to-one. A surprise to all.
Another feather in the hat of coach Kwesi Appiah.
Exodus 14:13b: “…for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever.”
Appiah’s statistics
Many have questioned whether Kwesi Appiah is the best man to take Ghana to the World Cup, whether his tactics are the best, etc…etc.
In a comprehensive piece written by budding journalist Fiifi Anaman for allsports.com.gh, he reveals that Kwesi Appiah’s statistics are actually the best there has ever been.
‘Ghana’s 6-1 mauling of Egypt saw coach James Kwesi Appiah play his 21st game in charge of Ghana since being named coach in April 2012.
The win was Appiah’s 14th in charge, representing a winning percentage of 66%.
His former boss, Serbian Milovan Rajevac (2008-2010) had managed a winning percentage of 47% (10 wins) after 21 games.
Former Ghana coaches Claude Le Roy (2006-2008) and Goran Stevanovic (2011-2012), both of whom Appiah understudied, though not being in charge for us much as 21 games, managed lower winning percentages compared Appiah’s current record. Le Roy managed 61% (11 wins from 18 games in charge) while Stevanovic managed 52% (10 wins from 19 games in charge).
Appiah’s Ghana have also been very prolific in front of goal, with a whopping 49 goals being scored in 21 games.
Goran Stevanovic managed 28 goals in his 19 games in charge, with Claude Le Roy managing 31 goals in 18 games in charge of Ghana. Milovan Rajevac, by the end of 21 games, had only managed 28 goals.
With regards to goals conceded, Kwesi Appiah’s Ghana has let in 17 goals in 21 games. Claude Le Roy’s Ghana conceded 20 goals in 18 games, with Stevanovic conceding 14 goals in 19 games. Milovan Rajevac’s charges had let in 19 goals by the end of his 21st game.’
The stats, as they say, speak for themselves.
Toppmoller? For what?
In recent weeks, reports made rounds in the Ghana media that ‘people in the higher echelons of power’ were seeking ‘help’ for Kwesi Appiah, and one name was bundled around: Klaus Topmoller.
According to footy-ghana.com, Toppmoller had been contacted by third parties representing officials of the Ghana Football Association with a view to taking over the technical bench of the Black Stars.
Should the move happen, the 62-year-old Toppmoller will take all technical decisions regarding the team, leaving current Black Stars head coach Kwasi Appiah as a deputy in effect.
Reacting to the reports, Appiah told Michael Oti Adjei in an interview: “My concentration is on the Egypt game and nobody has told me anything about any technical director. I signed a contract which ends after the world cup so nothing has been discussed.
“As for working with others, it depends on how you put it. For instance I can need some guys with good technical ability to scout or monitor some teams for me. That is something that can be done and I have always been doing that so that is not a big deal. As for a technical director I don’t know what role he will play. Ghana has a technical director already so I don’t know where that is coming from.”
I think that we should let Appiah be. He has learned from his mistakes, he has handled egos very well. And more importantly, he has earned it. The first Black coach to send Ghana to the World Cup.
90 minutes away
After a 6-1 defeat of African giants Egypt, Ghana are all but through to the World Cup. But Appiah is cautious, not to celebrate to early. The return leg to be played on November 19th at the Air Defence Stadium in Cairo will need Egypt to at least score five unanswered goals in order to upset Ghana.
Appiah says he is determined to become the first indigenous Ghanaian coach to lead the country to the world cup.
“Every coach will love to coach at the highest level and in football the world cup is that competition. I will be proud as a Ghanaian to be the coach of Ghana at the World Cup. It is something a lot of Ghanaian coaches will be interested in but we must finish the job in the return leg first before we can celebrate.”
Copacabana…Rio de Janeiro…here we come!
I believe Ghana is in Brazil. I can already feel my toes in the sands of the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. I can already see the upsets that Ghana will cause at the global mundial against any foe, with all these quality players to choose from.
But like my coach said, let’s “concentrate on the Egypt game.”
Ghana Sports, with George-Patrick 