Football fans in Ghana have been starved of local football for a while, with the fate of the 2015/2016 Premier League still undecided.
In fact it is three months behind schedule. However, big congratulations to the Ghana Leagues Club Association (GHALCA) would be in order, because for the first time in a decade, they brought back top quality off season football.
The often very dormant GHALCA did not only give clubs the opportunity to prepare for games, they gave Ghanaians a real feel of how their football has developed and also exposed the two clubs which would represent Ghana in the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup.
There are a few critical lessons though we should take notice of, after watching every minute of every game of the FirsTrust GHALCA tournament which lasted for three days.
Below are some of the points I picked up from the three day competitions:
1. Asante Kotoko will be the team to beat next season:
The Porcupine Warriors won the inaugural G6 tournament, arguably with their team B, as the more stronger team left for Libya for an international friendly. This was after their impressive opening day victory against Berekum Chelsea, convincingly beating them 3-1 on the day.
To a very large extent, it showed the whole world the depth in the Kotoko team as the team B drew with current Ghana champions AshGold and beat a strong Aduana Stars who kicked out Medeama impressively a day earlier.
2. Ashanti Gold and Medeama SC are not ready for Africa yet
These two clubs will be representing Ghana in Africa and from what i witnessed at the Essipong Stadium in the Western Region, both need serious improvement if they are entertaining any dreams of making an impact on the continent.
AshGold looked very pale and flat with little creativity and direction. This obviously strikes little hope of any serious contender to make an impact in the Champions League.
Medeama’s midfield was okay but the attack leaves a lot to be desired. No hunger!
Luckily for them, they will not be playing in the preliminary round so they have more time to improve.
Hearts of Oak coach Kenichi Yatsuhashi is a dead man walking
The Phobia boys exited the tournament without scoring even a single goal.Their play was simply bad and they always had to rely on the experienced Soulama Abdulaye.
Their game against Medeama was virtually Soulama vrs Medeama with the Burkina international standing between a thrashing and a narrow loss.
On this evidence Kenichi would be lucky to start the Ghana Premier League as coach of Hearts of Oak. No wonder there is already talk about his imminent departure.
3. Yahaya Mohammed is back for good:
The much travelled player is now with Aduana Stars. What a way to announce his comeback, after bagging a brace to send Aduana to the final. Its rather unfortunate he was unable to start in the final and only came on for the last 30 minutes.
But what I got from the Medeama game where he scored two goals is that, he would compete for the goal king award in the coming season.
5. Finally Aduana Stars are exciting to watch
Aduana Stars is the Stoke City of Ghana football known for their boring style of play with the aim of frustrating opponents into submission.
Against Medeama SC, they started with Yahaya Mohammed, Richard Mpong, Daniel Darkwa and Noah Martey all attack-minded players and it played off really well. They ended up with a 3-0 scoreline and an impressive performance that world entice fans to the Nana Agyemang Badu park next season.
5. Attendance was impressive for all games
All six clubs were playing away from home but still managed to attract a sizable number of fans from the first day to the final.
Though the stadium wasn’t packed to its rafters, and I admit we will have to improve attendance to our various stadia but was still better than usual for local games in recent times.
The sad aspect of all this is that, we do not know when the league will start and I will plead with Mr. Kwesi Nyantakyi to find solutions to all issues preventing the commencement of the league. If you want the Black Stars to succeed, you have to get the local league right. We have to start with getting our league to a level that players playing in Ghana can influence the national team through their performance just like 1963, 1965,1978 and 1982 when most of heroes where in the Ghana league.
One can only wonder the level of excitement and revival our football would get if we could have on platforms like SuperSports and all local channels broadcasting our league games and covering weekly premier league matches. The potential is there but would our football people see this through?
Ghanaians have craved and cried for 32 year waiting for that elusive fifth Africa Cup of nations trophy but if you flip the history records, Ghana’s teams that won the AFCON were dominated by home-based player, Hearts, Kotoko, RTU and Mighty Jets.
We will all have to fight from our small corners to ensure authorities do the right thing by getting our local league back on track.
GHALCA can be potent if they wish to
In a time where the league itself is struggling to attract sponsorship, they were able to secure sponsorship from FirsTrust Savings And Loans for a three day tournament.
What does this tell us:
This tells us that corporate Ghana is still interested in Ghana football and it takes a good package to attract them.
Another lesson this tournament has taught us is that television is key in modern football. GHALCA were able to arrange with Super Sports Africa for all games to be broadcast live on TV. Other local stations also had the chance to take the SuperSports feed and certainly helped to increase attention and ignited interest in the games.
I noticed how some Ghanaians packed themselves in front of shops watching the GHALCA TOP 6 with the same conviction and attachment to European games.
All is not lost yet!
By Rahman Osman
Follow on twitter @iamrahmanosman