Black Stars and the real curse

One does not have to be superstitious to subscribe to the idea that the Black Stars are cursed. It is the only explanation left to explore. Our team was not the worst at the tournament.

Still, the outcomes of our matches were often so ridiculously confounding that the answer had to lie outside the realm of physical reasoning.

Before the ongoing AFCON, there was a marginal but powerful lobby behind this ludicrous idea. The number of believers of the curse theory has grown exponentially since the team was booted out ingloriously at the group stage of the ongoing AFCON. So, we can all agree that we must do something about this curse.

Look at it this way: How do you explain the howlers our team of professional footballers committed in every one of the three matches they played? Against Cape Verde, a self-destructive lunge by the goalkeeper, who ended up scooping empty air, led to the loss.

Against Egypt, the Black Stars gifted their North African opponents two sterling goals in an act of generosity often reserved for Christmas or Eid-ul-Adha. The last disheartening confirmation of the curse was the goalkeeper's rush to tap a ball that had almost gone out of play. The Mozambicans headed the resultant corner kick in when the Black Stars had been traumatised by the first Mozambique goal a few minutes earlier. That came from a penalty conceded when the captain, Dede Ayew, stood with outstretched arms in the penalty box during a free kick by the opponents. How do you explain that?

We can go back a few good years to find and present evidence of the curse. For example, we cannot explain the Comoros' defeat in any other way, so once again, we must attribute it to the unseen hand of the curse.

We must exorcise the curse; we don't lack people who can do this. Our nation has all kinds of holy people across all religions and cults. We can even form a curse committee composed of all these people to tackle the curse.

Of course, there will be rivalries and conflicts within the committee. Some will prefer the slaughter of sheep and pouring of libation; others will recommend the burning of incense and chanting of mantras; some will prefer to speak in tongues, while others refuse all food and drink to appease the most high. If the committee seeks my advice, I recommend they perform all those mysteries together. More is better.

We will use all approaches and methods to clear the curse. The problem is: Which curse? At the last count, there appear to be at least three curses running; we need to find out whether the curses are working together or each is in its lane.

We need to determine this because this will dictate how we can exorcise the effect of the curses. For example, if they have found each other and are working together, we can address them as a single package. My unsolicited advice is to appease them together.

So, what are these curses? According to those who know about these things, the earliest curse was laid in 1982 when the disappointed AFCON victors cursed the team and the nation. They invoked the gods of football to withhold the cup from Ghana as long as the curse remained.

The next curse, an unspecified one, was laid in Senegal in 1992. According to that story, supporters of Abedi Pele and his arch-rival, Tony Yeboah, cursed each other and the rest of us when the internal wrangling within the camp affected the fortunes of the team and the nation.

I had heard of the 2014 curse when many players cursed the country before a plane arrived with three million dollars in cold hard cash. The cursers forgot to reverse the curse once the green bucks filled their pockets.

Last Monday night, all these curses came together in one big display of shamanic menace that deprived Ghana of a win against Mozambique and a place in the round of 16 in the ongoing AFCON. I heard this curse theory discussed seriously in the media that night and on successive days after.

We must tackle another curse, or package of curses before we venture into the unseen. This curse is made up of the following afflictions: maladministration, mismanagement, corruption, selfishness, hypocrisy and greed.

Many people say that the Ghana Football Association (GFA) is the biggest curse laid on our football fortunes over the past few decades. They accuse the football body of operating like a racketeering cabal interested only in its own welfare.

Immediately following the current AFCON disgrace, the GFA sacked Coach Chris Hughton and his technical team. That was expected to happen. However, as the old saying goes, fish rots from the head, and the GFA cannot absolve itself of responsibility in this debacle. The GFA says it will announce a roadmap, but observers say it is an illusion to expect the people who gave us the old roadmap to provide us with a better one now.

Why did they not give the better roadmap the last time? This is a ruse to stay in office and carry on the self-profiting agenda.

The Ghana football curse is real and can be tackled in the natural, touchable world. We have had several committees investigating Ghana football matters. Their recommendations have yet to be implemented, sometimes not even published.

Ghana needs not a curse-removal committee but the implementation of best practices and a patriotic mindset across the entire football establishment.

kgapenteng@gmail.com