Selecting the right players

Black Stars coach, Milovan Rajevac, has come out with his list of a thirty-man-squad. The coach’s list was out last week Friday. Though this is not his final list we on this paper think that this has been long overdue.

Perhaps, it is a strategy mapped to defeat our opponents in Group D, which include the likes of Australia, Serbia and Germany. But Today is of the opinion that coach Milo should have by now settled on which players will be making it to South Africa. We have been told that the 30 players in the course of their training tour will be pruned down to enable the coach have his final twenty- three-man squad.

Inasmuch as we do not want to seem interfering in the coach’s affairs we also deem it necessary to express our reservations where we realise things are not going the way Ghanaians expect, for after all, the coach is being paid by Ghanaian taxpayers. Without mincing words we think that the coach has wasted too much time in the selection of his 23 players.

What Ghanaians should be seeing are preparations of the boys towards the event, but so far apart from the friendly match the Black Stars played against Bosnia Herzegovina, there is nothing on the cards to show. We may appear to be seen rushing the coach but it is also important we state that we stand a better chance of going far when we prepare adequately towards South Africa 2010.

So far as preparations of the Black Stars are concerned we think that the coach has not done enough in that respect. It is against this backdrop that we are calling on coach Milovan Rajevac to step up his efforts. The coach may have qualified us to the world cup which of course is a remarkable achievement, but what the over 22 million Ghanaians want to see is the Black Stars travelling far in the competition.

The coach’s 30-man-squad is not bad at all as we have the likes of Kevin Prince Boateng who plies his trade in Britain and Bernard Yao Kumordzi. We are also encouraged by the fact that most of the players who we believe will go to South Africa play regularly in Europe.

Another significant thing about the list is that the 30 players include some of Ghana’s young talented and skilful players. Fortunately, these youngsters had had the opportunity to represent the senior national team at the just ended 2010 Cup of Nations in Angola.

Among these young players who have been called by Milo are Dominic Adiyiah, Andre Dede Ayew, Emmanuel Agyeman Badu, Lee Addy, Rahim Ayew and Samuel Inkoom. We are certain that with the kind of exposure these players had in Angola when put on the field they will deliver for mother Ghana.

We at Today seize this opportunity to urge the coach to select the right players who are fully fit and have been playing regularly for their respective clubs. We do not think Ghanaians will be happy if what happened at CAN 2008 where many of our senior players were half fit is repeated in South Africa.

Taking about half fit and training horse players we can mention Stephen Appiah, Rahim Ayew and Richard Kingston. Stephen Appiah is no doubt a very committed and hardworking player but it has been almost two-and-a-half years since he played competitive match for his Italian club, Bologna. It is same with Rahim Ayew and Richard Kingston.

We hope that it would not be too difficult for coach Milovan to drop some of these players who have not been playing actively for a long time and are hit by one injury and the other. We hope when it gets there Milovan will do the right thing.