Good Show, Black Stars

The senior national team, the Black Stars, on Sunday got off to a flying start in their 2012 Africa Cup of Nations campaign, when they thrashed a less-fancied Swaziland side by 3-0 in faraway Mbabane, Swaziland. Whilst seizing this opportunity to congratulate our young boys for that sterling performance, we at Today hope that the win will goad them to win all their remaining matches and establish a firm grip on the top position of their group.
The goals were scored by midfielder Andre Dede Ayew, Germany-based striker Prince Tagoe and Schalke left-back Hans Adu-Sarpei. It was a match that football pundits on the African continent and the world had predicted victory for Ghana. Therefore, it was not surprising that just 13 minutes into the first interval Andre Dede Ayew had put the Black Stars ahead.
With this first victory, Ghana joins the likes of Nigeria, Zambia, Sudan and Cameroun who also won their opening matches. Though, Sudan in the same group with Ghana, managed to beat DR Congo 2-0, Ghana remains on top of Group I with a goal difference. Indeed, what has been working for our Black Stars is the fact that the team currently has a new crop of young talented, diligent and committed players who, at the least opportunity offered, are willing to die for mother Ghana.
In the match against Swaziland, it was obvious that the 4-4-2 tactics employed by coach Milovan Rajevac in the first half worked to perfection. That tactics saw the Black Stars dominating in every department of the game in the fist half with their opponents almost chasing shadows.
However, that changed in the early minutes of the second interval when Milovan, who is expected to sign a new contract with the Black Stars this week, reverted to his 4-5-1 defensive tactics that has come under severe criticism from the Ghanaian public. That immediate change in tactics saw the home team pressing the Black Stars with long surging runs into the 18-yard box of the Black Stars. The situation also put enormous pressure on our defensive backline who were found jittery sometimes.
But in the face of all these, the good news is that our young Black Stars won all the three maximum points, and this puts the team in a very good position to work out another victory strategy against our next opponents, Sudan, in Accra. Furthermore, it is refreshing that the younger brother of Andre Dede Ayew, Jordon Ayew, finally got the opportunity to make his debut for the Black Stars. Even though Jordan played for 10 minutes, he showed glimpses of his skills and we hope that his inclusion in the senior national team will bring about positive results.
Once again, to our youthful Black Stars, we say Ayeeko for the Mbabane performance. We hope that their first victory will not get to their heads and allow them to lose their guard, but will spur them to go all out and win all their qualifying matches.