Emmanuel Ansong, Aduana Stars and Local Black Stars defender
Coach Herbert Addo must still be reeling from the 3-0 fire baptism he and his Aduana Club received from Moroccan giants Wydad Casablanca of Morrocco in their maiden African Champion’s league debut. As if that fire baptism was not enough, the CHAN Black Stars training tour in Kenya left much to be desired in terms of training match results.
Doubts have been raised bout the ability of the team to contend for honours and Assistant coach Nurudeen Amadu has a fair idea what Ghanaians might feel about his team: “ We are even not sure what people will say back home should they know we lost to a Kenyan Premier League side.”
Herbert Addo’s team has declined in performance since they set up camp in Kenya. The Black Stars first beat former Kenya Premier League champions Tusker FC 3-2. Then, went on to draw with academy kids from Dream Team Academy in a 1-1 game. Gor Mahia exposed Ghana further with a 2-1 defeat. The excuse for this defeat is that Ghana’s team were without head coach Herbert Addo and five players who had joined Aduana Stars for their CAF Champions League tie against Wydad Casablanca. But one can also question the worth of the substitutes if the team can collapse because of 5 players, some of whom may not have starting positions.
It is really interesting to find out that the bench takes this tournament serious. Assistant coach Amadu believes that “It will be detrimental to the team as well as to the technical bench if Ghana misses the finals”. But these are mere aspirations if the team does not take steps to pluck the gaping holes in defence. My take is, Herbert Addo did not call up enough combative defensive midfielders and I will be very interested to see how and who he lines up in midfield on Saturday February 5th, 2011 when Ghana takes on South Africa
Hope is not completely lost though. It is quite a relief to know that the team scores at least one goal per game. It is also heart-warming to have observed that the Black Stars has defenders who can take advantage of crosses and spot kicks. In Emmanuel Clottey, Ghanaians can find a dead ball specialist. Hopefully, if scoring from open play becomes a problem, dead ball situations might just work the magic.
Football Made In Ghana 