Feature: Are "Local" Players Unattractive to Grant?

Black Stars head coach, Avram Grant, recently named his 23-man squad to face Rwanda in their last Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Rwanda.

 

The Black Stars are leading Group H with 13 points, having already booked a place to the Africa Cup of Nations finals to be held in January 2017 in Gabon and this has got me thinking; “why would Grant hand call-ups to the same group of players, instead of offering others the chance to prove themselves as worthy replacements in the near future.

The major European season has just gotten underway and, touch wood, should any of his [Grant’s] key players pick up an injury, who are the ready made replacement for these first team players?

 

The former Chelsea coach named just two players from the Ghana Premier League, namely; goalkeeper Richard Ofori (Wa All Stars) and defender Kadri Mohammed (AshantiGold).

 

Though Rwanda will be aiming for a win against host, Ghana, in a bid to improve their poor Fifa rankings, a Black Stars squad, made up of players who ply their trade in the domestic league, in my candid opinion, should have been assembled to represent the nation.

 

Frankly, Ghana has nothing to lose playing a Rwandan team headed by interim coach, Kanyankole Gilbert Yaounde with a ‘locally’ assembled side.

 

The country’s limited financial resources will not be over-stretched to cover the team’s huge budget. Notably, business class tickets for each foreign-based player, acoommodation, and other expenses that come with ‘importing’ the Black Stars’ first team will be avoided too.

An opportunity of this magnitude for a ‘local’ player, would also serve as a morale booster for the lads who would have a feel of the honour attached to donning the national colours I believe .

 

Now, the following might just set you thinking, just as it did me. The called-up players would be entitled to winning bonuses.

 

In the event a ‘locally assembled’ Black Stars squad, infused with few ‘foreign-based players post a win against the Rwandans, the winning bonuses they would each receive, would do a world of good to their personal and family finances, bearing in mind, the peanuts they receive as salaries from their respective GPL clubs.

I just want to think aloud; “What’s so unattractive -if any- about the local players?”

 

Is it that Grant sees them to be sub-standard or he just doesn’t want to tinker too much with his squad?

Again, I’m only wondering; “Is he that good a man manager as we were made to believe before his appointment or it’s mere overhype?”

To borrow Ghana’s Kumawood actor, Lil Win’s mantra, “I can’t think far” with Grant’s call-ups this time!

Feature: Are "Local" Players Unattractive to Grant?

Credit Maxwell Konadu For Local Players Call-up

Football administrator Abbey Pobbey has said assistant coach of the Black Stars Maxwell Konadu should be given the credit for the call-up of two locally based players into the national team.

Black Stars head coach, Avram Grant named his 23-man squad for the upcoming double header against Mozambique in AFCON 2017 qualifier and the list included top goal scorer of the 2015/16 league, Stephen Tetteh of WAFA and Wa All Stars number one, Richard Ofori.

The inclusion of the duo has given players in the premier league a glimpse of hope of breaking into the national team, if they perform consistently well.

Pobbey speaking in an exclusive interview with sportscrusader.com mentioned that, it’s a good and a morale booster for the players, but asked that no one should credit Grant for their inclusion.

He said, “Grant was not in Ghana when the league commenced. The call-up of Samuel Tetteh and Richard Ofori is due to the monitoring capability of assistant coach, Maxwell.”

“If he had been here observing the league and the performance of players in the league, he would have selected Ashgold’s goal keeper, Dabou,” he added.

Credit Maxwell Konadu For Local Players Call-up

Kwarasey Warned On Stars Return

Portland FC goal keeper, Adam Kwarasey has been warned to learn how to be of good behaviour on his return to national duties with the Black Stars.

Kwarasey announced his resignation from the national team, two years ago, after he had challenges with goal keeper’s trainer.

President of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG), Kwabena Yeboah has hit hard at players who turn up for national assignments with such attitudes to learn to tolerate challenges when they are called to play for Ghana.

He said,  “it is in his own interest to play for Ghana and not the other way round. You do us no favours but this is a nation you are serving just like us in diverse ways.”

Adam Kwarasey has been in impressive form since signing for Major League Soccer (MLS) side, Portland Timbers two seasons ago and his return is being heralded as good fortune for the nation as Black Stars has battled replacing him.

Kwarasey Warned On Stars Return

Dare: I"ll Win The African Cup With Ghana - Ex Black Stars Player

Give The Black Stars Job And I’ll Win The AFCON – Kotoko Legend

Former Black Stars player Abdul Karim Razak has professed his admiration of been the head coach of Ghana.

 

Razak, who also played for clubs in the UAE, Egypt and Ivory Coast, was ranked by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in 2007 as one of the confederation’s 30 best footballers of the previous 50 years.  Nicknamed the ‘Golden Boy’, he has played as Ghanaian international representing the Black stars 70 times and scored 20 – goals during that period.

Flashback: Abdul Karim Razak back in the 70s in national colours

The Ghanaian legend in an interview with footballcruader.com declared his wish to win the African cup of nations – AFCON as a coach after recording that feat as player and will accept with open arms (the head coach post of Ghana) should he be tasked with managing the senior male football team of Ghana – Black Stars.

 

He said, “I have done a lot at club level which has been very successful and I thank God for that, and now my focus is to coach the national team and show the world what God has given me, and to put Ghana on the map.”

 

“The only job I know in this world now is coaching, and my focus now is coaching the national team,” he enumerated.

 

Razak scored the only goal in the semi-final game against Tunisia that saw Ghana book its place in the final victory over Uganda in the 1978 African Cup of Nations to record their 3rd continental title.

Dare: I"ll Win The African Cup With Ghana - Ex Black Stars Player

We love Asamoah Gyan - Ex-Gitmo detainees

The natural beautiful footwork of Black Stars skipper Asamoah Gyan has made him a househld name across the globe. In Guantanamo Bay, according  to ex-Gitmo detainees almost all the inmates fell in love with the Shanghai SIPG striker when his extra time goal saw USA losing Ghana at the 2010 World Cup.

Ex-Gitmo detainees will spend two years in Ghana

Ex-Gitmo inmates Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby who will be spending two years in Ghana under a special US programme, in an interview with Radio Ghana revealed that Asamoah Gyan’s exploits against the Stars and Stripes in South Africa gained him loved from the detainees.

“We want to live in Ghana quietly and peacefully and we want to put our lives together. We are really happy for the warm reception that Ghana has given us,” Atef and Al-Dhuby said.

Atef added: “I like Ghanaian people because they are very good people, they are very polite, we are very, very excited to come here because we know some of the things about Ghana; first of all is Asamoah Gyan, we know him, we like him very much…even a lot of [the] detainees … like Ghanaians and as I told someone here [earlier], in 2010 [during] the World Cup, most of the people there [Guantanamo Bay] – I can say all of us – we were with Ghana and when Ghana beat America, we were very happy.

“We celebrated and told the guards that we won.”

The ex-detainees have also assured Ghanaians that they will live peacefully with them and will not cause any harm to anyone because they are not terrorists.

“We want to thank the president and the good people of Ghana for the decision they made to accept us,” they said.

“We are not a part or against any group like Al Qaeda or other things. We do not belong to any part of them.

“We are here and want to live a normal life. We have been wrongly arrested for 14 years without any charge against us.

“We want to live in Ghana quietly and peacefully. We are happy for the warm reception accorded to us,” they added

We love Asamoah Gyan - Ex-Gitmo detainees