In the world of football, a coach’s role is crucial in determining a team’s success.
A good coach can inspire, motivate, and tactically guide their team to victory. However, a wasteful and inefficient coach can lead to disastrous performances and consequences.
Ghana leads its 2026 World Cup qualifying CAF group with accumulated 19 points from 8 matches, a lead that football fanatics in Ghana are least enthused about judging by the output and performances of the team.
As someone who has followed the game for decades, I can clearly identify poor game planning as one of the factors that affects the team’s performances.
After watching over 16 games being managed by the teams head coach one can clearly conclude that the team fails to adapt to tactics of their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.
How can an opposing team keep the ball to itself and pin us to our quarter of the field and when the team gets possession of the ball it’s ballooned to the opponents end on the field.
Is that the game plan of Blackstars or the coach is just tactically bankrupt?
Ineffective player management, playing players out of their natural positions and inefficient use of their skills and talents, misusing player skills, ignoring player fatigue, and failing to make timely substitutions coupled with wasteful substitutions are all contributing indicators that has affected the quality of performances of the Blackstars under Coach Otto Addo.
Ghana is reaping the consequences of employing a substandard coach to manage a team that had him as a player for the Germany World Cup in 2006, and the master class of a team that reached the quarter finals of the subsequent World Cup which was hosted first time on an African Soil in South Africa and but for the hand of Suarez of Uruguay, Ghana would have made the history of the first African team to qualify for the Semifinals of the mundial.
Poor team performance has resulted in the team losing matches, failing to qualify for the upcoming AFCON, a tournament the Blackstars have being a permanent feature.
Such a shameful achievement was as a result of the kind of coach whose exposition on the touch line shows a lack of confidence and an inability to direct a team that needs tactics, morale and leadership to excel.
The Blackstars that we’ve known and followed for decades can easily be seen from the outside that there’s low team morale, player dissatisfaction and several resentments harbored by the players which has resulted in us reaping poor results on the green turf.
Surprisingly these same players reap completely opposite results in their teams wher they ply their trade.
One can’t watch the team play in a comfortable state or with a sound mind amd conclude that that this game is a win for the senior nation team till the referees blow for the end of our games.
At this stage of the team, we should be building from our past glories, but in reality we are lacking something technical that repels us to compete in comfort and confidence with minnows in the African game.
Lately, even Comoros has turned Ghana as its whipping boys.
To avoid the pitfalls of a wasteful and inefficiency of our coach, the nation should hire an experienced coach with a proven track record of success and a deep understanding of the game deviod of thinking of cost.
Every good and perfect thing has a price.
When Ghana wanted to enjoy Free SHS we paid its price by investing heavily in it, we want to go to the World Cup and perform better not just to be counted among the participants but be counted among the those that can lift the cup, let’s invest and we can reap positively from that, it’s highly possible.
We should go for someone who accepts the new dispensation of the game and welcome criticisms and work with constructive opinions to achieve the broader purpose of winning, playing good football and achieving success with the Blackstars.
The country should set clear goals and expectations for whoever is appointed and offer a clear set goals with performance metrics to ensure accountability.
The set goals should be regularly evaluated to determine the coach’s performance and make decisions with.
Per the games at hand and the points accumulated, Ghana can qualify from our group and make it to the tournament but the nation can avoid the disastrous consequences of bad and disgraceful performances at the World Cup by abrogating Otto Addo’s appointment by appointing a better and effective coach to help the Blackstars achieve success on and off the pitch.
Compiled by:
Hon Kwadwo Baah Agyemang
Former Youth, Sports and Culture committee member of Ghana’s parliament
Former Board Chairman of National Sports Authority
