For the past two weeks, soccer loving Ghanaians have been embroiled in a heated argument after the exit of the Black Stars Serbian manager Milovan Rajevac affectionately called "Coach Milo".
Milovan Rajevac, after several denials from himself and the Ghana Football Association (GFA), finally decided to seek much more greener pastures in the oil rich country of Saudi Arabia. The Serbian prior to his exit had vehemently denied signing the $100,000 a month contract with a local side-Al Ahli for a year.
The 54 year old first signed for Ghana in August 2008.He led Ghana to grab silver at the maiden edition of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Ivory Coast and again led the Black Stars all the way to the 2010 African Cup of Nations (CAN) in Angola only to be beaten 1-0 by eventual winners Egypt. He capped a glorious coaching stint with the Black Stars with a quarter final berth at the 2010 Fifa World Cup. But for a certain Luis Suarez of Uruguay, the Black Stars would have made an African record at the World Cup.
Now the argument is, should the GFA recruit the 24th foreign coach for the Stars or go for a 10th local coach?
For me, the question of a local or a foreign coach should never be the criterion. Rather, competence should be the watchword.
I understand about 30 coaches have so far applied for the vacant job (both foreigners & locals) and are seriously lobbying to get the nod.
From a personal point of view, the GFA should allow assistant coach Akwasi Appiah to hold the fort for the meantime whilst they take their time to fish for someone who's well cut out for the job. Already, some names have started popping up; current Rwandan coach Sellas Tetteh, Ashgold's David Duncan, Mighty Jet's "Coach-hene" Emmanuel Kwasi Afranie, Kessben's Bashiru Hayford, Malik Jabir, former France captain Marcel Desailly, Aduana's Herbert Addo and a couple of other foreigners. The current state of our national team makes it expedient for someone who has a similar philosophy to that of Rajevac to man the affairs. From instilling discipline to allowing youngsters the opportunity to showcase their talents and mapping out credible strategies to win matches, the criteria is clear.
Ghana cannot afford to lose its current pedigree on the whims of some few self seeking individuals who'll seek to take advantage of this situation to enrich themselves either as agents or middle-men at the expense of Ghanaians who now "worship" their most cherished team.
I now urge all Ghanaians to make up their minds either for or against the selection of a local or a foreign coach for the senior national team with a list of coaches since independence to date to help in the decision making.
1.George E. Ainsley (1958-1959)
2.Sjolberg (1959-1962)
3.József Ember (1962)
4.C.K Gyamfi (1963-1965)
5.Carlos Alberto Parreira (1966)
6.Karl-Heinz Marotzke (1968-1970)
7.Dumitru Nicolae (1973-1974)
8.Karl-Heinz Weigang (1974-1975)
9.Sampaio (1977-1978)
10.Fred Osam-Duodu (1978-1981)
11.C.K Gyamfi (1982-1983)
12.E.K Afranie (1984)
13.Addo (1984)
14.Rudi Gutendorf (1986-1987)
15.Fred Osam-Duodu (1988-1989)
16.Burkhard Ziese (1990-1992)
17.Otto Pfister (1992-1993)
18.Fred Osam-Duodu (1993)
19.Aggrey-Fynn (1994)
20.Jørgen Erik Larsen (1995)
21.Peter Gavrila (1995)
22.Ismael Kurtz (1996)
23.Sam Arday (1996-1997)
24.Rinus Israel (1997-1998)
25.Giuseppe Dossena (1999-2000)
26.Fred Osam-Duodu (2000)
27.Cecil Jones Attuquayefio (2001)
28.Fred Osam-Duodu (2001-2002)
29.Milan Zivadinovic (2002)
30.E.K Afranie (2002-2003)
31.Burkhard Ziese (2003)
32.Ralf Zumdick (2003)
33.Mariano Barreto (2003)
34.Sam Arday (2004)
35.Ratomir Dujkovic (2004-2006)
36.Claude Le Roy (2006-2008)
37.Sellas Tetteh (2008)
38.Milovan Rajevac (2008-2010)
No comments:
Post a Comment