The end of the dream

The Blacks Stars are home again – huge crowds turned out to party and welcome them at the Kotoka International Airport. The next day the team were paraded around Accra in their bus. Each player is to receive 20,000 US$ and hefty payments have been made to the members of the Ghanaian FA, not to mention the huge sums forked out to fly government NDC supporters out to South Africa to support the boys. President Mills invited the returning heroes to the Castle and there are hints of more honours to come. Wow!! All this for a team that reached the quarter finals.

In the cold light of day it is hard to escape the despondency and disappointment after the defeat by Uruguay. There is an implicit acknowledgement that such an opportunity will never present itself again. Never mind that the team only managed two goals (both penalties) in the Group stage and to be honest only progressed to the knockout stage courtesy of the Aussies who unexpectedly and rather fortuitously beat the Serbs. Yet people really came to believe that the Black Stars would at least be the first African team to reach the semis and even win the cup for Ghana and Africa. With the whole continent behind them the Black Stars were ready to conquer the world and head for glory.

So where did it all go so wrong? The players seemed to be relaxed and confident – playing for each other. Laid back - gambling into the early hours of the morning – easy to approach - in sharp contrast to the paranoia surrounding the English camp. And then came the match – after a rather poor start the Black Stars scored the all important goal just before the break – it should have been a psychological knockout blow. But back came the skilful Uruguayans, equalising from a long range speculative shot that Kingson misjudged catastrophically – all level and everything to play for. Into extra time – the Black Stars struggling to make any impact, the Uruguayans visibly tiring and then the drama and bitter disappointment. Denied at the very last minute, betrayed by a handball on the line and then Gyan blasting his penalty against the bar. The rest is history – two poor penalties – the game lost and the dream smashed.

The recriminations continue up and down the country, throughout Africa even. Endless futile demands that the rules should be changed, that a goal should have been awarded and that no punishment is severe enough for the cheating Uruguayans. Right now the country is celebrating their exit from the tournament. But it is hard to imagine that any other player from any other team behaving differently in the same situation - the automatic response to protect your goal. If Gyan had scored nobody would still be talking about this – but nevertheless it has been a bitter pill to swallow. Others blame the penalty taker – forgetting that Gyan had the courage and bottle to step up and take the first penalty in the shoot out. But in the end it is all fruitless – the game is done – to be honest the team tried hard, they battled and at times truly shone – but sadly they could not deliver. One friend said to me if only Essien had been fit and the team had a decent centre forward – what a different story that might have been!

So what now? Some are calling for the sacking of the coach and there is much discussion about the wisdom of employing foreign coaches in favour of locals (heard that one before somewhere?). But to be fair Milo has done a great job – moulding a team together – and don’t forget the guy faced death threats and had his house burnt down in Serbia. The future looks bright – a strong squad of young motivated players –their time will come again. But instead of fat bonuses to the players and their “Handlers” there is a desperate need to invest in the game at the grassroots level both in Ghana and Africa as a whole. It is a crime to see the vast profits being generated by FIFA through this World Cup (not to mention the draconian laws being implemented to protect those profits) with such small returns for the continent. Africa remains a bargain basement supermarket for footballers and they can be found plying their trade at all levels across Europe from Bucharest to Moscow and from London to Stockholm.

It was great while it lasted – I can’t remember being so excited about football for a long, long time – it was an amazing adventure and a wonderful dream. I leave the last words to our friend Grace – “We lost because God was looking after Ghana”. Already before the Uruguay match at least 12 people had died and hundreds of others been injured in the celebrations after each game. So God conspired to save Ghanaian lives (forget the Uruguayan hand of God). Although Grace went on to tell us that so many people were in comas brought on by their disappointment – you just can’t win!!