The Black Stars’ Problems Are Bigger Than We Think

Since the Black Stars’ disastrous performance at the most recent Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, the team has never been able to resuscitate. It has always been a fiery, chilly, and occasionally heartbreaking performance.

Ghanaian fans are extremely dissatisfied as the situation continues to deteriorate. Their pains elevated recently after Ghana played against Sudan in a home and an away AFCON qualifying match in Accra and Libya respectively.

Ghana was hoping to participate in the biggest football tournament in Africa, which will be held in Morocco next year, so a lot was expected of the players. The Black Stars, on the other hand, lost 2 – 0 to the Sudanese in Libya after being held to a goalless draw at home.

Now, the fans have become extremely “wild,” harshly criticising the players for putting on an uninspired performance. In fact, they are going for the players’ heads. But, there is more to it than we know. Without fire, there is no smoke’.

On Thursday, October 17, seasoned Ghanaian sportscaster Sadique Adams, more commonly referred to as Sports Obama, participated in a radio discussion that was broadcast on Peace FM. During the discussion, he divulged a number of secrets regarding the inside story that explains why the Black Stars’ performance is consistently declining.

Sports Obama said, most of the players he has talked to in secret are unhappy in the team. He stated that there is something seriously wrong if a team’s general captain tells a lie to avoid playing in Ghana’s crucial game against Sudan, a top qualifier, he said.

Thomas Partey told the coach and team doctor, according to Obama, that he doesn’t feel comfortable joining the team. This clearly indicates that there is dissatisfaction with the situation.

Having said that, Alexander Djiku, the deputy captain, also found a way to arrive at camp late, citing a number of reasons. Because of this, Otto Addo decided not to play Djiku in the first leg of the qualification match in Accra because he was both worried and hurt.

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Sports Obama discovered through his investigations that Jordan was also enraged at Coach Otto Addo for failing to inform him before handing over the captaincy to his teammate Kudus Mohammed.

In fact, Jordan is th one to take over as General Captain after his brother Andre Ayew’s exit because he is the team’s senior player. However, it continues to target other players around him.

Truly, the captaincy role is an ordered progression in the team, and Jordan ought to have been the skipper. Otto Addo is also of the opinion that Kudus deserves it because he is the team’s face.

Now, to the primary issue:

According to the players, they don’t see any professional management from the Football Association. Truth be told, they say there is no demonstration of professional administration, particularly taking a gander at what they are used to in their separate clubs.

Obama claims that the players informed him that they could see for themselves if they would win a match prior to a game. The camp has lost its sense of belonging. According to the sportscaster and analyst, the players sometimes just want to leave the team because the way they are treated in the camp is very unprofessional.

Giving further details, Sports Obama expressed that, a large portion of the players said there isn’t sufficient consideration given to them when they show up from their individual clubs to play for Ghana. It appears as though management only think about themselves.

As a national team, there is no psychologist, yet even to date, there is none. Obama said, it’s disheartening how the Black Stars management team are taking care of such top class professional players who are ‘dining’ with top billionaires and are being pampered in their clubs.

Obama stated that the FA is treating the players more like a father and son relationship. He stated that the players occasionally experience depression, but they lack someone to care for them. All the FA know is — ‘go and win’.

Obama claims that the majority of management members do not know how to influence players prior to a game. He added,

“We can’t always blame the players.” There is a more pressing issue in there that should be handled first”.

“Have you ever considered the reason why the players excel at their clubs but underperform when they play for the national team? It indicates that something is wrong. Poor management is driving the team to the floor.”

“Since the last three appalling AFCON campaigns, we have never found what precisely is going wrong. But we keep playing without probing. “All the FA think about is a new coach, a new coach…”, Obama stated.

Obama added that, one of the players confided in him since the day FA President Kurt Okraku recorded them during a chat with them before the game against Sudan, saying that if they had known he was going to record them and post it on social media, they would have fought him or left the room.

The player went on to say that the President has done that before, but this time his language was so hurtful and wrong. The player went on to say that if they needed that advice, a psychologist should have given it to them.

In all of this, Obama also addressed the coach saying,

“Otto Addo is not the problem.”He will face challenges until the much bigger issue in the camp is resolved. In any case, he has his flaws. Otto Addo misses the mark on the skill of managing big players like that of the Black Stars. Essentially, there should to been an experienced technical team member to help the inexperienced Otto Addo very just like it is being done all over the world”.

In addition, Obama said that Ghanaians should sometimes stop firing on the players because there is a bigger problem than what we see on the field.

Meanwhile, many fans have called for the head of the Football Association President, Kurt Okraku for a poor show since his appointment.