Who managed Ghana’s World Cup campaign?

We are out of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Thus the above question has to be asked. There will be more questions. After the Black Stars’ first round exit at Brazil 2014, the natural thing to do is to demand answers from those who managed affairs of the team in Brazil.

So, who managed Ghana’s World Cup campaign in the South American country? Was it the Youth and Sports Ministry? Was it the Ghana Football Association, the Black Stars Management Committee, the Technical Team or indeed, the campaign was managed by the five bodies?

 
By Ghana’s previous record at the competition, Brazil 2014 turned out to be the country’s poorest World Cup tournament, not really on the basis of the quality of play but of course, by the points garnered; one out of a likely nine and also by the fact that Ghana exited at the group stage.

At their maiden appearance in Germany 2006, the Black Stars’ 1/16th stage exit, losing 3-0 to Brazil was hailed. It was Ghana’s first time. More so, at the time when the other African teams had been disappointing, the Black Stars’ display was impressive. In South Africa 2010, when all Africa’s representatives failed to glitter, the Black Stars, remarkably, cruised to the quarter-final. They lost on penalties to Uruguay. Ghanaians and Africa as a whole were therefore right when they dreamt that the Black Stars would excel in Brazil. That didn’t happen.

The questions to ask are: what went wrong and who managed the World Cup campaign? The Black Stars might have drawn one and lost twice on the pitch but outside the pitch, there was no draw. The team lost everything. It’s either they didn’t have it or they lost all the things; the tranquility of mind, sound planning and the unity that teams usually need to progress at tourneys like the World Cup.

I was not in Brazil but all the off-the-pitch news reports I followed pointed to one thing: that, there was uneasy calm in the Black Stars camp. The GFA denied some of the reports and also confirmed the others especially when things got out of control.

I hate to dabble in unproven allegations. Professionally it is unethical. Morally, it is sinful to thrive on falsehood and even proceed to question people’s competence on that basis. Yet in a country where the first disposition of most authorities is to be defensive when they have failed to perform to expectation, the temptation for the public to feel hopeless is real.

Ours is an FA that appears to have specialized in not achieving anything significant with the Black Stars yet after every tournament they behave as if nothing went wrong. Player indiscipline was Ghana’s bane in Brazil. Indiscipline took centre stage in camp.

What was done by authorities in charge of the team when reports emerged that one of the players slept outside camp? That a player could have the effrontery to assault an FA official confirmed the height of indiscipline in camp. There were vehement denials of a "player revolt" but later events gave ample credence to the thick cloud of tension that hanged around Ghana’s camp because of players’ disrespect for authorities.

Players almost boycotted training because of unpaid appearance fee. Even after millions of dollars – cash were airlifted from Accra to Brasilia (and that was “unwise” according to Deputy Minister, Joseph Yamin but it had to be done), the team still couldn’t win. In all, the question remains: who managed Ghana's World Cup campaign?

If the South Africa 2010 quarter-final feat had been achieved authorities outside the playing body would have claimed some credit. Had the much-talked about semi-final or final dream also materialized, authorities again would have asked for some glory. All that didn’t happen. Ghana lost. The Black Stars had only one point. They exited early – at the group stage.

Whoever managed Ghana’s World Cup campaign must take full responsibility for this failure. Why did the players' appearance fee become a big issue? Why did the players threaten to boycott training? Why did a player sleep outside camp? How could a player assault an FA official? How could another player insult the coach? Ghanaians must have explanations to all that happened! Whoever managed our problem-ridden World Cup campaign must prepare to address the nation.

Enough of the distractions in Black Stars camp

GFA Spokesman, Ibrahim Saani Daara

It has in recent times become almost a ritual that, anytime Ghana, especially our senior national team, the Black Stars participate in international tournaments, certain developments which I call distractions, pop up. Eventually, instead of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) focusing primarily on what sent the team to the tournament, they rather engage the media; issuing press statements here and there to deny one issue or the other.

Again, in the end, the Black Stars don’t achieve their goal at the tourney. The GFA and sections of the media rather succeed in diverting everybody’s attention from the real issues. The team returns home with the promise of doing well at the next competition only for the media and the GFA “actors” to repeat or in fact, invent new forms of distractions at another tournament.

We have had enough of the ‘distractions’. It is high time we behaved seriously as a football country. We can’t continue to spend precious resources on football to the detriment of other equally important things only to go to tournaments to play with the intelligence of Ghanaians.

From the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Gabon-Equatorial Guinea in 2012, AFCON 2013 in South Africa and the latest, Brazil 2014, the GFA and sections of the media have had accusations and counter-accusations over the publication of stories which undoubtedly put Ghana in bad light not alone in the eyes of Ghanaians but also in the eyes of the whole world.

It may be natural to have negative developments in the camp of a team during a tournament. Yet it appears ours is becoming too much and unhealthy. It is high time we became serious and found civilized ways of managing affairs relative to bad developments in the Black Stars camp. It cannot be that journalists always wake up to fabricate stories about the team at tournaments.

When the Black Stars returned from AFCON 2012, there were damning reports of unbridled gambling in the team’s camp by the players. Stories about superstition and many other ridiculous tales were told by journalists who covered the team throughout the tournament. Not surprisingly, the came out to deny every bit of the information given by these journalists who were at the Gabon-Equatorial Guinea competition.

At AFCON 2013, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) ran a story that cited Ghana in a disparaging bribery story. Again, the GFA denied that story. They even went ahead to blame the GNA reporter at the tournament for putting out falsehood without initially contacting her. At one of Ghana’s matches in South Africa, there was a public, vitriolic exchange of abusive words between the FA spokesman and a GNA journalist, who, apparently, was wrongly accused.

Ghanaians up till now don’t know whether or not, what the GNA put out there was true. The GNA is not administered by angels so the tendency for them to make mistakes exist but given the credibility of the GNA overtime, it was hard for many people to accept the FA’s denial. How could the state-owned news agency lie about the national team? That issue, just like the Gabon-Equatorial Guinea one, died naturally after the GFA’s vehement denial.

Now this week in Maceio, Brazil, where the Black Stars are based, Myjoyonline.com reported of a "player revolt" in the team’s camp. The GFA was quick to deny that story too in a press release. They added that: the “Joy FM reporter in Maceio, Tony Bebli vehemently denied ever filing the report when he was confronted by Black Stars management and Asamoah Gyan”.

Like it happened in Gabon-Equatorial Guinea and in South Africa, the player “revolt story” in Maceio will die naturally but questions will remain. One of the questions will be whether it is simply journalists who have been fond of publishing falsehood about the Black Stars at tournaments or it’s rather the GFA which is always quick to sweep the truth under the carpet?

Whatever it is, let the GFA and all the “actors” in the continuing episodes of so-called false journalistic reportage and the GFA’s constant denials, be told, that, time, has a way of exposing liars. Such exposures are often embarrassing. The Black Stars and Gh