Tricky opener, as Ghana takes on Congo
The local Black Stars’ quest to engrave their names among the comity of pioneer winners of the Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) begins this afternoon with a tricky Group C opener against Congo Brazzaville at the Cape Town Stadium as the third edition of CHAN enters the third day.
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Ghana’s maiden participation incidentally in the inaugural tournament held in Cote d’ Ivoire in 2009 saw the local Stars at the final even with a team that struggled to inspire most Ghanaians.
That narrow miss with history left many thrilled and convinced that the Stars’ coronation in this competition reserved for local talents was near.
But at the subsequent tournament hosted by Sudan, the Stars’ dreams became nightmarish, turning out to be an ignoble campaign as they lost all their group games against Zimbabwe, South Africa and Niger and bowed out of the tournament in disgrace.
For the keen followers of the fortunes of the Stars at the time, that embarrassment was as a result of Coach Herbert Addo’s brazen attempt to parade only players of Aduana Stars, the club he coached during his tenure as the head coach of the local Stars.
Incidentally, the same situation confronts head coach, Maxwell Konadu , who stands accused for building his squad around a collection of Kumasi Asante Kotoko players.
And the moment to justify his decision and conviction about his squad will be this afternoon as he attempts to wipe the gloom that pervades their campaign as a result of the 2011 debacle and the unimpressive showing at the last WAFU tournament, albeit, winning it ultimately.
In spite of the pessimism that confronts the Stars campaign, particularly coming after Coach Konadu expressed his displeasure about the output of his team after a friendly against Namibia in Windhoek, Ghana is still ranked among the favourites by the pundits.
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Fortunately, two of Konadu’s trusted warriors, goalkeeper Stephen Adams and Godfred Saka, are familiar with the terrain, having played in the last tournament in Sudan, while Jordan Opoku has a wide range of footballing experience to buoy the Ghanaian campaign.
But Coach Konadu has a huge task of bringing the likes of Sulley Mohammed, Yayaha Mohammed , Michael Akuffo , Nuru Sulley and Samuel Anobaah into the larger ambition of winning the ultimate.