Come next month, two of Ghana's female teams will represent the country in two international competitions; the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup in Papua New Guinea and the 2016 Women's Afcon in Cameroon.
The Black Princesses qualified for the U20 Women's World Cup since last year and will be in Papua New Guinea later this month for the competition which starts on 13th November and ends on 3rd December while the Black Queens begin their quest for Africa glory and a World Cup qualification in Cameroon on the 19th of November.
A visit to the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram on Monday, 17th October 2016 to observe how our teams are preparing gave me a picture of teams preparing to participate in a tournament and not to win it.
Ghana qualified for the U20 Women's World Cup since last year, yet, the team is still training on the brown hard surface at Prampram, always playing against the Black Queens as their major friendly match for the tournament.
I kept asking myself over and over again when I was returning late in the night to my Nima residence as to how a team that qualified for a WORLD CUP since last year is still in the country with just twelve days to the competition month. Ghana is still in Ghana, playing on a semi-grassed football pitch with a world cup starring us in the face. Marvelous!
I once told a colleague German journalist that Ghanaians are magicians and always believe that a miracle can happen, hence our approach to every event has been shambolic. But I don't think the God of Ghana is happy of late looking at what happened to the Black Maidens in Jordan. Hitherto, Ghana enjoys such luck-laden goals in major competitions but our God was not on duty hence Korea getting the advantage.
My checks revealed that the technical team of the Black Princesses had earmarked double-header friendly matches with the U20 women's side of Nigeria but it did not materialise because of the famous no money syndrome. And with just 21 days to leave Ghana, the team is yet to play any international friendly to give the ladies a deeper sense of purpose and a can-do spirit.
I foresee what happened to the Black Maidens repeating itself.
The Maidens left for Jordan without any friendly despite arranging with Nigeria and Cameroon for friendlies but the famous 'no money' mantra denied them the opportunity, hence playing their first game in Jordan without any friendly and the result was an epitome of our preparation.
Are we expecting to do something different from what the Maidens did in Jordan? Let's stop thinking about that because 'no money' will not permit us to do that. I am not discouraging the ladies and their technical handlers but I seriously see a repeat of the Maidens' experience. I am crying within.
The Black Queens experience does not look different. They were not just training on a brown surface but a grassless brown pitch with patches of brown grass at the edges. I looked at the beautiful ladies and I felt like crying but had to hold myself together. I asked myself, why? Will prisoners even be treated like that? But the ladies were happily and seriously training.
Since the introduction of the Africa Women's Afcon, Ghana has never won it and the Queens are looking to build on their All Africa Games gold medal winning feat in Congo to win it for the first time. Ghana could have done it easily but Mr. No Money has compelled the team to think only of participating and not winning. The team is not mentally prepared.
I observed one thing which was both at the training of the Princesses and Queens; injuries. The pitches were such that almost after every training drill, some of the ladies had to go for the team doctor to treat them before they return to continue training especially the goal keepers.
Our preparations have been very ill and leave no room for hope except that the magical Ghanaian will be expecting the usual miracle to happen.
Coach Yusif Basigi did not sound too confident of conquering Africa not just because we can't but because we have not prepared for such an important international competition. A competition where the likes of Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire will all be competing yet Ghana's preparation does not look convincing.
The 2016 Women's Afcon starts just six days after the kickoff of the U20 Women's World Cup.
Looking at the efforts the technical teams headed by Didi Dramani and Yusif Basigi have put in to prepare the teams with their limited resources, I am only praying that the countless number of days for camping, training, conditioning and tutoring will not be in vain (Attitude of a real Ghanaian. Always praying)
The Black Maidens are back from the U17 Women's World Cup in Jordan crying for their qualification bonus for the tournament, qualification bonus from the group stage and their per diems.
Sadly enough, the Black Princesses and the Black Queens have also not been given their qualification bonuses despite qualifying last year and March this year respectively.
There is no money as the Sports Minister keeps saying but there is money to do other unimportant things in the country to the detriment of what serves as a cure for prostitution, child labour, arm robbery and unemployment.
Mr. Speaker, this time Ghana is dying.
By: Sheikh Tophic Sienu @desheikh1 on twitter