Assad Mallah backs Sports Minister

Veteran football administrator and patron of the Sportswriters Association of Ghana (SWAG), Assad Mallah, has backed Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuye’s assertion that the nation does not need an expatriate coach to handle the senior national football team, the Black Stars.

In a press statement yesterday, Assad Mallah said even though he had retired from active football administration he had been following the game closely and was convinced that there was no need spending huge amount to recruit a foreign coach for the Black Stars.

“I wholly agree with the argument that these Black Stars players are all top performers and there is nothing extraordinary to teach them except bonding together and putting them at their right positions. 

“Our local coaches have a track record of achieving much for the national team. I don’t think the foreign coaches have achieved much in Ghana”, Assad argued.

The SWAG patron, who is also a patron of Kumasi Asante Kotoko, suggested that if possible, Coach Kwasi Appiah, who took the Stars to the last World Cup in Brazil could be recalled and be assisted by coaches such as Maxwell Konadu, Ibrahim Sunday, Mohammed Polo, Malik Jabir, Osei Kofi and the like. 

“The salaries of all these coaches won’t be even half of what we spend on the foreign coaches”, he said.

Assad said the advantages of engaging a local coach were numerous, especially concerning the culture, upbringing and even the type of food we eat.

“The local coach will eat fufu, banku, kenkey etc while the foreign coach is used to steak and salad”, he said.

Assad said “our coaches know the strength, the speed and the character or ability of each of our players and will be best suited for the job”.

Recalling Ghana’s performance at the last World Cup, Assad argued that Ghana did well at the tournament but lost to the current European champions, Portugal, and drew against Germany, the ultimate champions.