Dear Charles
Kwabla Akunnor, your appointment as the new head coach of Ghana’s beloved
national team brought excitement to a lot of Ghanaians who believed in your
coaching philosophy and your first call-up for the Black Stars which includes
four outstanding local players is even an added value to the love for you.
For fanatics
of the local game, it is always refreshing to see impressive Ghana Premier
League players get the attention of Black Stars coaches in international
assignments. It is surely a sign that they are working hard and are being
rewarded for their relentless hard work.
Many can
attest to the fact that this is certainly not the first time of seeing about
four local players in the Black Stars squad for a qualifier. We have always had
coaches in the past who only invite these players to camp and never give them
the opportunity to showcase their talent with the national team.
In this new
era with the new Black Stars management and coaching staff, Ghanaians deserve
the chance to watch our “local superstars” performing in our national colours
and not just being a mere spectator on the bench. It is about time our coaches
have confidence to utilize the exuberance of local players who always
come with extraordinary hunger to impress and cement a place in the team.
There is a
school of thought that believe that certain big name players feel the national
team is their birthright, so they don’t put in extra effort to ‘die’ for the
nation and hence; the local guys should be opportune to take their place in
fixtures that are not so cagey like the upcoming game against Sudan.
For instance
it will be so logical to field a tried and tested prolific goal-scorer like
Aduana Stars talisman Yahaya Mohammed who has recorded 11 goals in 12 games
this season in such a game. Such a player needs no special introduction to
perform in front of the viewing eyes of a fully packed Cape Coast Stadium.
A lot of
Ghanaians have longed for a change in how we treat local players and this is
the perfect opportunity for C.K Akunor to change the narrative and to sort of
#BringBackTheLove. The love for our indigenous players is enormous and would be
well appreciated when they are given the chance to actually perform at the
national level.
The excuse
previous coaches give to back their claims of not calling local players and
giving them playing time cannot be valid for C.K Akunnor simply because the
Ghanaian league is in progress and outstanding players deserve some valid
playing time.
We can only
wish the Black Stars well and hope that all the new players excel and are able
to integrate into the squad to help our dream of qualification and ultimately
in the long run; annexing the AFCON trophy that has eluded us over three decades. God
bless our homeland Ghana.
