The Coach of the Senior National Team, the Black Stars, Otto Addo, has officially announced his final 26 man squad for the Mundial in Qatar later this month. As usual, yesterday’s announcement of the final squad, which would represent Ghana as one of the participating African countries, has been met with mix reactions from the public.
While some supporters and soccer loving fans have welcomed the announcement with rapturous applause to show their satisfaction, others have greeted the news with massive disappointment.
The mix reactions have come about as a result of the calibre of players the technical team, led by the Coach, has put forward as those who merit the call-up into the national team presently.
The levels of satisfaction expressed by some Ghanaians, as well as the seething of anger by others, which have characterised the Coach’s choice of players, are normal and very familiar. This is because the game of football has become the opium of the over thirty million population, to the extent that almost everybody claims to have an appreciable level of understanding of the game.
This beautiful scenario feeds into the more reason football has arguably become the only game which binds us together, looking at the highly polarised political atmosphere.
Following the fact that there are more coaches in Ghana than the country could possibly employ, some of these sharply divided opinions were envisaged. However, there is very little that opinions, sentiments, views, accusations and counter-accusations could do at this point, especially when the Coach has already finalised his squad.
The clarion call by The Chronicle at this crucial time is that Ghanaians must, as a matter of necessity, commit themselves to rallying behind the Stars as a team.
In our view, though our individual expectations about which players should have made the cut might not have been met, it is important to underscore that every single player, given the opportunity, is also a Ghanaian.
It is a fact that we might not have a compact team,as witnessed in both 2006 and 2010, but it is our belief that if we should throw our total support behind the current squad, they would not disappoint us.
In the game of football, unity is very key, therefore, as a nation going to the Mundial with a common purpose, we must not have our front divided.
Any further division, following the named squad, could easily have emotional, psychological, physical or mental effects on the players, and in the unfortunate event that the aforesaid should happen, the consequences would be dire.
Participating in the Mundial for the first time in 2006, the Black Stars qualified from their Group at the expense of the USA and Czech Republic, after defeating both countries.
The second consecutive appearance in 2010 was even better when the Stars carried the flag of Africa on their shoulders in South Africa, and nearly reached the semi-finals. The Black Stars of Ghana have carved a niche for themselves as far as their participation in the World Cup is concerned, following their impressive records in 2006 and 2010.
Fortunately for the current Stars, their Coach, Otto Addo, was a member of the maiden squad in 2006 in Germany, and therefore, cannot let us down.
As a young coach, Otto Addo must be reminded that he is solely responsible for his own actions and inactions, as far as the performance of the squad he has assembled is concerned.
Just as he would be hailed for his tactics and instructions on the field of play when the players deliver, he would equally have his head on the chopping board for any other outcome.
Therefore, it is our belief that Otto Addo picked and chose players who could best play to his instructions, so that could make all of us proud. We, on this note, call for absolute unity and maximum support from Ghanaians so that the Stars could make us proud once again.
