Baba’s Exit – A Blessing In Disguise?

A first group game win means that our beloved Black Stars are shinning atop group D in the ongoing AFCON in Gabon. More importantly, the win is a priceless glimmer of hope to numerous Ghanaians who doubted Ghana’s chances at the tournament.

An impressive first half performance against long time bully side, Uganda was almost brought to nothing in the second half and it is no doubt that the unfortunate injury to left back, Baba Abdul Rahman was a huge factor that contributed to the Stars’ below-par performance in the second half.

Frank Acheampong was brought on for the injured Schalke 04 defender in the 39^th minute and due to a shortage of talent in the left back position on the bench, no football technical head will doubt that the Anderlecht player was the right man to complete the task. Unfortunately, Frank couldn’t settle in the game and on a couple of occasions he was found wanton for pace and a bit of experience in the left side of defense.

Obviously, Baba’s services were missed and in fact, will be missed as he has been flown back to Germany for treatment. The big blow - Baba is out!

The situation will certainly cause some unrest in camp as the performance Frank put up against the Cranes will not be any blessing to Ghana’s defense when we play a much tougher and aggressive Malian side on Saturday in Port Gentil.

On the brighter side, Baba’s exit could actually be a blessing in disguise. Of course it is not a good feeling to have one of our bests out but on the other side of the coin, the situation presents Ghana a totally divergent team set up that might not be too familiar to our opponents.

First off, Grant can diversify his back line tactical set up from the famous and ‘cliché-type’ back four into a back three. Scared? No cause for alarm. Before the Stars’ exploits at the 30^th edition of the AFCONs that was dual hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, Grant was working on playing with a back three in order to give the team an attacking drive. He was forced to revert to the normal back four when the formation seemed not to be yielding the much needed results. The project cannot be labeled as a failure entirely due to a number of reasons which haven’t reared their heads in this crop of year’s galaxy Stars battling for the nation. Thomas Partey, for one, had not found his feet yet in the heart of midfield for the team. Both Jonathan Mensah and John Boye were battling to find game time at club level, and Mubarak Wakaso was also equally struggling in similar fashion in Europe. All these, fed unfortunately into the failure of a project which had such bright prospects. Besides, Ghanaians ourselves were never prepared to make our beloved team a propagation grounds for an unknown seed to be sown. So we squashed it!

It’s now time to revisit that project and make it work in Gabon. We have the arsenal to execute it perfectly and from what has been established so far, no team has played in a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 formation at the ongoing AFCONs. Look at it as an invincible weapon in our armory.

The Stars could line up with a back three of Daniel Amartey, Jonathan Mensah and John Boye in defense. Frank Acheampong who looked shaky and out of place against Uganda will then be allowed space in left-wing back position while versatile Afful fills the right-wing back position. Frank should fit perfectly in that role, unlike playing in a much more restraining left full back position. He will have the chance to run at opponents just as he does in Belgium for Anderlecht while we can trust the versatility of experienced Harrison Afful to keep things cool in the opposite position.

In defensive midfield, the Partey element we lacked two years ago will be present to protect the back three while Panathaniakos’ Mubarak Wakaso would partner him brilliantly with occasional aggressive tackles and attack break ups. Upfront, a trio of Christian Atsu, Dede Ayew and captain, Asamoah Gyan should be enough to produce a perfect blend of speed, experience and youthful exuberance in attack. It would mean that Jordan will be out but in earnest, the Aston Villa man has always found problems turning up at the party. It will be a necessary evil to leave him out for a while.

Baba’s loss cannot be ignored and obviously his absence will put a strain on the technical bench to dig deep into their thinking to find a quick solution. A 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 might do the trick but it will only take a sack full of bravado by the Israeli coach to attempt the inevitable.