Black Stars Reborn
ALMOST TWO years ago, Ghana football reached an all-time high, with the Black Stars being the only African team to reach the second round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
Today, Ghana football seems set for greater things, as the country gets set to host the 26th edition of the African Cup of Nations come January 2008.
The biggest challenge for the Black Stars would be the fact that since 1982 in Libya where the team won the Nations Cup for the fourth time, Ghana has failed in numerous attempts to lift the trophy for the fifth time.
Indeed, the Black Stars' poor form throughout that period was evident.
During the General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) held on the eve of the competition's kick-off in 1957, Mr. Babacar Baye of Senegal proposed that Article 32 of the CAF Regulations be changed in order to allow amateur players only to feature in the tournament, and the proposal was adopted by the then CAF President, Tessema.
It was not until the General Assembly of March 1982 held in Tripoli, Libya that CAF lifted the ban to allow as much professional players as possible to play for their various nations but before then, only two professional players were authorized to play at a time.
Playing before their home crowd and enjoying the moral support from fans and other soccer enthusiasts, the Black Stars could stun skeptics with the same brilliant performance which saw them through the group stage of the 2006 World Cup before mighty Brazil halted their amazing display.
It is important to note that since the competition became keener in 1984 (Abidjan) with more professional players featuring, the Black Stars only reached the final in Senegal 1992 and lost to Cote D'Ivoire by 11-10 in penalty shoot-out, which remains the longest penalty results in the history of the tournament.
Before then the victory by Ghana over Libya (7-6) in 1982 in Tripoli and Egypt over Cameroon (5-4) in the 1986 final were the only matches that ended with big scores on penalties.
Michael Essien, Sulley Ali Muntari, Stephen Appiah and Laryea Kingston would have the responsibility to make the nation proud in the Ghana 2008 tournament.
If the 2008 tournament would be on the side of the so-called favorite teams, then Ghana stands a chance of winning though statistics show that the trophy has eluded the country for the past 26 years.
As regards records in the tournament, Mr. Diab Mohammed El Attar of Egypt who scored 4 goals to help his national team to win the maiden edition of the Nations Cup in 1957, after retiring from active football, became a referee and happened to be at the centre when DR Congo, the then Zaire, defeated the Black Stars by 1-0 in the final in 1968 to win the trophy for the first time.