The signs were clear….

THE Black Stars ended a 30-year dream of annexing the African Cup of Nations with a painful one-nil loss to Zambia in one of the semi-final matches played last Wednesday. On a night that Ghanaians back home sobbed and felt dejected while rival neighbours, La Cote D’ Ivoire – who we were so sure we will play in the final on Sunday –  booked final berth with the Chipolopolo of the southern African nation for that very Sunday.

AFTER losing out at the semi-final and the final at the Ghana 2008 and the Angola 2010 tournaments, many had thought the Equatorial Guinea-Gabon tourney was the setting for the Stars to move a further notch up to claim the ultimate plume prize in African football; our last success was in Libya, in 1982.

BUT the other participating countries, especially Zambia, had other plans. At the end of the pulsating 90 minutes and time added-on, Emmanuel Mayuka’s strike ensured that Ghana settle for a play-off against Mali to sort matters out for the third place trophy. Ironically, the Zambian game is the instance the Stars played their best game yet in the three-week tournament.

IN the last World Cup too, Ghana lost to Uruguay at the quarter-final after putting up their best performance in all matches played in the 2010 tournament. It brings to the fore why the team will play sloppily and win and lose when they rather play beautifully. Mainly, the Stars were relying more on the character of the Ghanaian on such occasions rather than form guide. But there is a moment of truth in such occasions and that is what befell the Stars last Wednesday.

SOME of us read the worse inscriptions even before the team embarked on the journey to Equatorial Guinea-Gabon. The Black Stars preparation was perhaps the worst ever preparatory build-up to any major competition embarked on by the team. The Stars played a mediocre South African league team, Platinum Stars, and later against a make-shift Bafana Bafana, the national team of South Africa. Earlier, the Stars first trial match against top South African Side Kaizer Chiefs was called-off.

INTERESTINGLY, other participating teams, such as finalists, La Cote D’ Ivoire and Zambia, played some high profile practice matches before the commencement of this tournament. That indeed put these teams in good shape and helped shore up their confidence.  The results of the hard work is what they have reaped thus far and are still set to benefit from at the on-going 28th AFCON.

WE on Today also believe player selection for the tournament was not the best. If we should go by coach Plavi’s tall order in player selection, then we believe much as he dropped Richard Kingson for non playing time, the likes of John Mensah, Sulley Muntari and John Paintsil should not have been considered at all.

JOHN MENSAH, for instance, has not been part of the Olympique Lyon team in the French Ligue One, because of his unwholesome physical condition. And clearly it was obvious from the number of matches he played in the AFCON tourney and how injuries took him off the field. Based on his performance, we are tempted to believe that John Mensah’s selection was only due to sentimental consideration perhaps about his nostalgic gritty days than for being on top of his games prior to the tourney.

BY the same standard, Sulley Ali Muntari and John Paintsil, who have been peripheral performers in their respective teams, should not have been selected for the tournament. It was obvious from their performances in the few matches that they played that they are no longer the players who exuded fear in opponents. It was a pity watching these players struggling, albeit with difficulty, to re-live their good old days. In the end they had to lose their positions to young Samuel Inkoom and Jordan Ayew respectively.

ALTHOUGH it is good to have young players in a team, we believe the practice where such players are rushed to become starters in big tournaments can ruin the careers of such budding talents if the selecting authority are not careful. That explains why we still cannot fathom why experienced left backs like Nana Kwesi Asare and David Addy were left out of the team and in their stead the coach picked the untried Masahudu Alhassan.

MASAHUDU showed that he is still budding, and can only blossom with time. Do we rely on a rising star at the expense of fully-fledged stars in crucial tournaments such as AFCON, we on Today are compelled to ask. It is only Goran Stevanovic that can think this way.

AND Asamoah Gyan! It is about time somebody told the player that despite the high held notion that he is the best penalty taker in the team he is currently jinxed and should therefore give up the act for some time.

AFTER missing out on one against Uruguay, Asamoah has so far missed three other penalty kicks for the Black Starts. He missed targets from the penalty spot in Ghana’s matches against South Korea and Sudan, and his miss of last Wednesday against Zambia is his worst on record.  Ironically, that is the match in which we needed him more than at any time else to put the ball past the Zambian goal-keeper.

AS we begin another Cup of Nations and World Cup journey, this year, we believe the coach picks up useful lessons from the fortunes of the Black Stars in this tournament and adjust fast to avoid further heartaches to us in the near future.