GHANAsoccernet.com columinst Yaw Adjei-Mintah argues Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah must face the music after the team's failure to beat Congo in a 2018 World Cup qualifier on Friday. The avid writer insists the former Asante Kotoko great must take the blame for the disappointing stalemate against the Red Devils.
Had Ghana grabbed what would have been a dramatic late winner, Coach Kwesi Appiah’s blushes would have been spurred.
The commentary would be we didn’t play well but we won at the end of the day and that is the most important thing. True; a win over Congo would have put Ghana back in serious contention for Russia 2018 World Cup irrespective of the manner it came by.
However, that was not the case as the Black Stars labored to force a 1-1 draw courtesy a crisp strike from Thomas Partey who capped off a good week following his thunderous strike for Atletico Madrid in a 5-1 win over Las Palmas.
Drawing with Congo all but bundles Ghana out of next year’s World Cup considering the impressive form of group leaders Uganda and Egypt leading to the next round of games.
While many see another dull moment in Kwesi Appiah’s stint with the Stars, few see the reality of Appiah possibly screwing up qualification to two consecutive tournaments just over a fortnight apart. As Coach of the Black Stars “B” Appiah stood aloof while the team blew away chances to qualify to next year’s African Nations Championship (CHAN) ahead of Burkina Faso.
Failure to progress was placed squarely at the doorstep of Assistant Manager Maxwell Konadu with Appiah absorbed from the brunch of criticisms due to his upcoming task with Black Stars “A”.
While many have called for his head, Konadu has since been appointed as the main man in charge of the Black Stars B Team relieving the man known is some circles as the “Silent Killer” to focus solely on Ghana’s Team A.
To the horror of citizens who campaigned for his return, Appiah is on the verge of killing Ghana’s hopes of making it to Russia. Nothing was palatable about the game against Congo on Friday; the team lacked direction, lacked creativity and in the words of Captain Asamoah Gyan, lacked desire.
For starters, Appiah’s call ups were questionable to put it mildly after picking Gyan and John Boye who were recovering from injuries. As it turned out, Boye missed the game as he was unable to recover while Gyan showed why he should have remained in Turkey.
Gyan pronounced himself fit in the lead up to the game which drew ire from sections of Kumasi fans since they witnessed a bad performance from an unfit striker in Ghana’s shock loss to Burkina. A few weeks back, Asante Kotoko striker Saddick Adams was set to miss the tie due to injury but ended up in the starting lineup mere hours after being declared fit.
The outcome from that game bore a striking resemblance to Friday’s game. On the day, Appiah looked clueless by finding no answer to breakdown the Congolese and after calling up wrong players, he compounded his plight by playing the right ones out of position.
At this moment, Attamah Laweh’s Black Stars career is in grave danger in the aftermath of a horror show on the right side of defense as a replacement for Harrison Afful; the debutant’s error led to Thievy Bifouma’s goal. Laweh was eventually substituted for Afful which makes one wonder why the latter was benched in the first place.
Pulling off Andre Ayew and Gyan rather late in the game was baffling and the decision to let Jordan Ayew stay in the game for 90 minutes was wrong all ends up.
The Swansea City striker was easily one of the worst performers in the game as he held on to the ball a tad too long, over dribbled and was off colour through the entire game. The highlight moment came late in the second half when he spurned a glorious opportunity after being put through on goal by the exciting Ebenzer Ofori drawing a raucous of boos.
In all this, perhaps the most frightening reality played out in the final minutes of the game as Gyan and the rest of the team’s technical crew descended on the touchline to hurl instructions at players on the pitch. While superstar Cristiano Ronaldo made it pretty cool for players to coach on the sidelines, it must be noted Portugal’s Euro 2016 triumph had only him and Coach Fernando Santos close to the pitch.
In Ghana’s case, five personalities including Technical Coordinator Stephen Appiah and Goalkeeper’s Trainer Richard Kingson were up with the older Ayew yelling his lungs out from the dugout. Clearly the leadership skills Ghanaians yearn from its top man during his second stint was not there.
As the team prepares to play the reverse fixture, the writings are on the wall and unlike the Stars Team “B” failure, Kwesi Appiah is solely responsible for this latest disappointment.
By Yaw Adjei-Mintah