GHANAsoccernet.com guest writer Yaw Adjei-Mintah reckons newly-appointed Black Stars goalkeepers' trainer Richard Kingson is the right man to get past goalkeeper crisis in the team.
Irrespective who the next Black Stars Coach was after Avram Grant, one thing was certain; Razak Braimah’s days in goal for Ghana were over.
The error ridden ball stopper seemingly blighted Ghana’s chances of progress with every bad foot work, positioning and attitude he displayed in between the sticks.
No matter the philosophy, race and behavioral trait of the Black Stars head trainer, there is still little justification to make for a keeper who made fewer than five appearances for Cordoba in the Spanish lower division prior to the 2017 AFCON. With Kwesi Appiah’s return, it is safe to say Gabon 2017 is the last we see of Braimah.
That might be the case but how did Ghana even get to the point where its national senior men’s football cannot count on three ready-made keepers to man the post.
It can’t be for lack of talent; this is Ghana after all and it definitely can’t be for the lack of commitment from players in or outside the country.
What is apparently true is, in the last few years, the right goalkeepers have not been called up for national duties and that can be squarely put at the doorstep of former Black Stars Goalkeeper’s Trainer Nassam Yakubu.
Unlike other positions on the pitch where players manning such spots are named or dropped by the head coach, the goalkeeping position leans heavily on the Goalkeeping Trainer.
Of course managers like Jose Mourinho have used their power to override suggestions on the choice of goalkeeper, the position is largely untouched by many a manager.
Mourinho played Antonio Adan ahead of Iker Casillas at certain stages during his time in the Spanish capital even when it was crystal clear Casillas was far better than the Adan. While Appiah does have ultimate power to pick and choose who lines up in goal for the Black Stars, he needs to focus his energy more on the other positions and leave that task to new Goalkeeper’s trainer Richard Kingson.
As a member of the newly appointed “Dream Team” technical group for the Black Stars, the former number one stopper in the nation has a major challenge to tackle.
The man popularly known as Olele has gotten off to the right start in light of the latest Black Stars call ups with the likes of Richard Ofori, Adam Kwarasey, Felix Annan and Joseph Addo featuring on the list.
Despite boasting a deep wealth of talent in the position, Ghana has had a hard time picking the right guy to man the post since Kingson retired.
Ghana is blessed with goalkeeping talent so much so Daniel Agyei, who is a huge favorite to win best foreign keeper in one of Africa’s fast rising leagues, the Tanzanian League, missed out on the call ups.
For starters, the former Wigan keeper’s vast experience makes him the right man to make the right call and avoid the weird situation that happened in Brazil at the 2014 World Cup. After losing 1-2 to USA, Adam Kwarasey got dropped to the bench for Fatau Dauda in bizarre circumstances but the change yielded little results as Dauda was solely to blame for Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal that sent Ghana crashing out of the tournament. Changing keepers after the opening game of a World Cup is a risky move and Kwarasey did underperform against the US but supportive words from a guy like Kingson would have easily been enough to get the Norwegian-born keeper back to his best.
Still on Kwarasey, the former Portland Timbers player accused the departed Nassam Yakubu of inferior training skills and poor communication.
The aforementioned reasons form the basis of Kwarasey’s hitherto self imposed exile from the Black Stars after rumors surfaced Yakubu communicated to keepers in Hausa or local Ghanaian language which Kwarasey doesn’t understand.
Having played outside Ghana for over a decade, Olele has been exposed to the best training techniques and can easily relay such methods to his students.
Polyglot Kingson should have no problems communicating to players too. For a nation that had the likes of George Owu struggle to get a call up and hold down the starting spot in the team, the present level of goalkeeping is a far cry from what Ghanaians are used to.
Owu is not the only one to suffer this fate as Sammy Adjei basically retired after giving up on nailing a starting spot in the Black Stars.
With new men in charge, Ghana is heading in a different direction and a new direction is what the goalkeeping position needs. Fortunately for the Black Stars, it has the right man in Richard Kingson for the job.
By Yaw Adjei-Mintah