Can Akwasi Appiah Finally Catch The Wild Goose?

Akwasi Appiah

With the AFCON draw behind us it's time for critical and pinpoints assessment of players and their roles in various settings, so as not to be found wanting when we meet truly physically calibrated sides like Mali just to mention a few.

The recent match with Kenya proved yet again that when a team plays with concentrated exertion, they can neutralize Black Stars just like in that awful 1-1 drawn game with Congo when fate had engineered a leeway to the World Cup in Russia last year. The friendly with Mauritania also left much to be desired. Some journalists very close to the coach are preaching a demoralizing message, yes, when respected experts seem to be at their wits end propagating the message that we have no players capable of winning the trophy, don't they know they are indirectly admitting the bankruptcy of Akwasi Appiah's usual suspects. This same expert made so much noise for Ataamah Larweh, who being capped promptly and atrociously gifted the Congolese the goal that evaporated our World Cup leeway to Russia 2018. Solutions are the name of the game, not cowardly despair.

What a faithless indictment on the coaches aptitude, and proof of the toxic baggage from our recent past obviously, when "grand larceny" was perpetrated by a few unpatriotic citizens, and this is where I come in, for it's not possible for God to forget GH talent wise, Never must a Ghanaian throw up their hands in cowardly despair that we have no players for it is a very bad habit. Didn't Black Stars beat Japan? What has Akwasi Appiah been observing these past two years? Solutions have to be found. I cannot stand such cowardice. Thousands of GH youth and we have no 23? Your trusted experts whose words we lap in daily are at sea and I am compelled to come out of the woodworks in wrathful indignation. Akwasi Appiah, Raphael Dwamena missed a goal in Nairobi and that's the end of him, such a well-built leftie striker reminding us of Tony Yeboah? Afriyie Acquah did worse, The guys who lost in Kenya seem to be victimized and perennial losers are accommodated and we say we have no players. Boakye Yiadom too can be trusted and it still won't be our last card.

President Akuffo Addo has sent a clear message that Govt will neither slumber nor sleep till the African Cup comes to Ghana. Why not? Yet I sense or suspect that Akwasi Appiah will make the President look ridiculous with business as usual [in the abundance of water the fool is thirsty] selection, the whole rigmarole of fleeting illusions, whipped up assurances and support and player inability to impress and excite a whole GH.Don't we already know the taste of this pudding? Akwasi Appiah this is where your 35,000 dollars a month acumen must be seen with carefully selected unsung players who can come and play[Hungry Lions and Dangerous 11 rolled in one ] with unceasing pressure and disdain on opponents especially from the bench when Akwasi Appiah"s favorites are at their wit's end.

Don't we see it every time, Atsu will do all his flicks and wriggles and hardly does a toss ever find a GH head. Andre Ayew will push it forward, pull it back and give a sideways or backward pass[securuty passes as Asamoah Gyan recently said] and though possession is maintained, never ever is there a dash and not a single toss into the box and danger is not clear and present for our opponents and so when the opponents have stamina they crowd out and start outpassing the Black Stars and then grow in confidence but our pedigree sees us through the less fancied sides,but are"nt we always found out sooner or later?

Pussyfooting over serious inadequacies and outright coaching cowardice can cost us on "that great day".We cannot put Andre on the right wing when he can't flash forward. Atsu, though skillful can't penetrate on the byline and toss and Black Stars are neutralized because they have to play with a different plot to accommodate some players.I can't help but feel sorry for Akwasi Appiah who I will try to persuade with these reasonings. Firstly, please Gabon iU23 are nobodies so don't be too impressed and bring greenhorns to block precious, hardcore assassins who I'll spotlight on, who luckily come from the Hearts/Kotoko fraternity and so will not lack essential spiritual backing from their uncountable supporters.

What"s got to be done? When Partey and Wakasso have tried their all and Andre Ayew is locked, with no more tricks up his sleeves like we've seen many a time when they can't crack the safe, are we coming to rely on a lucky blunder like the Kenyan keeper blundered? Don't be fooled, Black Stars will play boisterously" as if" something will soon come meanwhile nothing happens and some players keep deceiving the coach for though they don"t really cut it a Ghanaian is a Ghanaian. So, selection must identify ruthless and fast players hunting for fame and fortune, to win the African Cup is no try your luck business. How do you catch a wild goose when you are not ready to sprint over and over and over again?

Black Stars need supersonic left and right wingers with fire in their eyes, ready to twist and turn and fly past two players with relative ease. Jordan Ayew is a striker but is accommodated on the wings and real wingers are glossed over with constellations go bliss careless abandon. We are interested in all manner of things and not the actual playing of the game and the requisite consonance expertise. Mediocrity is toxic and contagious..In actual fact, Akwasi Appiah really has the Kilimanjaro to scale. Wrong selection syndrome has now blown up in our faces, look at the evil perpetrated on exquisite"'gift of God" players like Charles Taylor[2006][just imagine him against Italy and Brazil] and Baba Armando and his cultured left foot[2006] and Quincy Owusu Abeyie [2010-2014] alias the gazzele in Spain,and we know the cheetah doesn't bother to chase the gazelle without the element of surprise and such untruthful totally unpalatable omissions of flaunted arrogance which have constructed, stunted, retarded and curtailed the glories due such a great soccer nation.

Go into the video archives and see the kinds of "world-class styles" that Osei Kofi, Mohammed Polo, Baba Yara, and Robert Mensah unleashed and "murdered" us with in this very GH. There is a whole heap of toxicity and illwill upon GH SOCCER and now look how difficult it is to resurrect due to heartless destiny changers. Look how the African countries disgraced us at the World Cup, further proof that GH bears the real mantle of soccer responsibility in Africa. GH is the apple of God's eye in African Soccer period [ please don't let the other nations know, it's our family secret]. I stress specifically that Quincy Owusu Abeyie[a player after my own heart] was maliciously kept out of the Uruguay game and it triggered the doom of GH soccer. No highest standards to emulate. Papa Mandela knew it was ours, that cup in S.A. The perpetrators of this treason picked a fight with the plan of God Almighty. Abeyie was in the plot from on high and smartest Alecs' forced God to exit us almost as though we'd won. Time is the master and so long as the mills of God grind exceedingly smooth, the JUDGEMENT took effect and President Akuffo Addo "spoke French" to Infantino and dribbled the F.I.F.A. ban and thus relegated the wicked, greedy and selfish stewards to ignominy before the whole congregation thereby ending my fight with the integrity less system.

Why won't someone tell you that, you have no players when some ommissions actually stink to High Heaven and mess with our good luck. When God wants to use GH to do great worldly things and we self destruct and shirk our responsibility to God and Africa do we think there is no retribution on "'enemies of progress"? 25 seconds and U.S. has found our net?. Look how the cup went to Abidjan the other day. Peace must be made with God by way of truthful selections. God gives the nations their assorted talents and aces. Never say the sun is the moon like was done to Quincy[who I swore would conduct the upset] the day Suarez caught that ball. I truly think that all players who took part in the2014 " we won't train till we get 100,000 dollars unparalleled idiocy", trust me, they all carry serious " toxic spiritual baggage" for it was reasonable, and they actually wanted to go to Russia as though God in Heaven was "such a one as them".GH you can't accept this message and won't so let's flow and make the best of a defiled and toxic situation.

In that last half hour, when it"s goalless or we"re a goal down, what different form of fire, what last ace can Akwasi Appiah play and free up a whole tense nation in the knock out stages. We need some real" horsepower" finish hard attitude, yes attitude that wins the day. So I ponder and ponder and see what GH still lacks, no speedsters at all, and I concurred that the last half hour mantle falls in my estimation on the two fastest players in GH. When the W.AF.U. Cup came on at Sekondi Essipong Stadium which of the local Black Star guys had to be drafted into the final after being regularly dropped, whose singular effort got us the penalty against the Nigerians? Who was too hot to handle, who danced the "fire dance"?Patrick Razak, then with Hearts of Oak and currently with Horoya of Guinea is that "animal".He'll get folks yellow carded in a trice and we can exploit many set pieces, he really got on our nerves, we Kotoko inclined folk. Stocky, strong and extremely mobile,a complete mouthful with acceleration galore. Why do you think I betted on Quincy to the hilt? Outrageous racetrack accelerators in excelcious,[you're dead, period]. Some people are faster than the norm, sprinters who are just too hot to handle!

The first time I watched him against Kotoko in Accra, he outran two players and the keeper as well with raw acceleration but hit the side net to the relief of Kotoko fans He later won Hearts a penalty, but Kotoko equalized and won the shootout in the cup match. Whereas Andre Ayew will go sideways Razak will flash by with no inhibition and will toss or enter the box and it shall be a continuous pelting when the opponents are tired and if he did it to the best local Nigerian players, of whom, then, shall he be afraid?. Didn't he score the lone goal against Kotoko in Kumasi? Didn't he conduct a 3-1 win against Kotoko in Accra? Wakasso sends a long one to the rightwing and away goes Razak and a pullback and Partey belts it in or Caleb Ekuban taps in, fire and simple brimstone from an unheralded secret star, just like Sunday Mba of Nigeria who crudely and rawly outran Drogba, Yahaya Toure, and company when unheralded Nigerian stars were unbridled and let loose on unsuspecting Africans and won in S.A. 2013.

Agree or not, his unbridled desire to hound opponents in a thorough run around can be roped into Akwasi Appiah"s strategy. Jordan Ayew hasn't got that desire to perform like Razak,it took Kotoko 4 matches to figure him out, didn't Kotoko desire him? The next undisputed speedster is Emmanuel Gyamfi of Kotoko, but he's not as worldly wise as Patrick Razak but he sure can zoom, so he can play to instructions which can utilize his glorious acceleration because like I already said when the big names happen to be at sea are we going to pack up and speedily give up the ghost with no supplies to anticipating strikers? People have Andre Ayew, Partey and Wakasso figured out, these local champion speedsters will cause African countries distress completely unbeknownst to them, yes GH must have an answer to anything thrown at her, there must be an escape route, some cunning simplicity..Football is an easy game to play, yet don't we make it so difficult?

Wisdom is found in the simplest place, in the nick of time!. I personally forego my vengeance, before the whole nation, you have no idea what it cost me in my existence with Abeyie's omission as I walk amongst you as though I wasn't the one showing the route to the World Cup in Kotoko Express..I instigated GH against Black Stars and GH "hated' Black Stars more than the instigator. My intelligence was insulted, Abeyie was sleeker than them all and I repeat, this day do I forego my vengeance on those who conspired to call the Sun, Moon and shortchanged a nation with wrong representations...Cans of worms, but are we not NORMALIZING...The Lord forgive the Treason against Africa when Abeyie was deliberately sidelined in the Uruguay game in order for me not to reach cloud 10[when he scored the winning goal on Prince Boateng's debut before we went to S.A, I really looked good] for I'd campaigned for him in Kotoko Express and I took the case to the Lord Almighty to judge whether He didn't organize Abeyie for to seal the GH soccer sums in a grand style.

This is no bragging, for I was capable of showing us the way to the World Cup itself. Didn't we play 2-2 with Germany?! I said not a prayer during the 2014 World Cup, Oh how my intelligence has been insulted. I used to say to them, "Don't exercise power because it is easy to your hand, and don't get carried away with a certainty of victory when your intellect tells you there is even a hint of tragedy". Akwasi Appiah and the Sports Minister wept at the 2014 Inquiry. I told them, "Long run, short run, I win".When the 2014 squad was mentioned, the then F.A. boss said: "If your favorite player is not in the squad, we're still soliciting your support" as Hua Wei was delivering their sponsorship. Will you believe that evening one friend said to me, "Ras, you know he was talking to you"? Of course, I knew still, foregoing my vengeance doesn't guarantee a trophy, for what GH finds hard to believe is that it's God's own case..I am well versed in these realms, have I not been silent since 2014, instead writing about Emperor Haile Selassie's unprecedented speech of 1936 in my soccer melancholy which Mr. President has fatefully pulled me out of with that famous phone call to F.I.F.A boss Infantino. and I can now support with a clear conscience.

Elephants have fought and meadows have suffered., It was a defiant challenge against tides of soccer ignorance and outright pretenders, Come and see Ghanaians, "there are no other players anywhere, we have Kevin, Sulley, Dede, Atsu and Gyan". I retort in defiance Trust me I understand the game to the highest echelon and without Abeyie, your Dede Ayews and Kojo Asamoah and Gyans and Atsu's can't win any trophy[check me on Facebook], I quarreled with everyone and Dansoman youth call me Quincy, in a friendly code, like' "hey Ras Kwuofie, we concur".One youth even said, "as for Abeyie I'm not sure GH will ever get his likes again".Let no one come and pose, we were all in this country and simple folk joyfully went to Brazil with fake vim and left me bellowing, "it's left with one man ooh"Emotional Blackmail to the highest degree...My Saturday soccer mate Alloycious Adjetey confidently and without a farthing of a doubt and with no pussyfooting said we'd not get out of the group, as well Kojo Addae Mensah!, So not all of GH got embroiled in the propagation of "fools paradise" false hope,yet in all this ask the Germans about GH and see if their bellies don't churn? We aren't all "soccer simpletons" in this land of gold and soccer.

In Senegal "92,with Nigeria a goal up and 45minutes gone,we got a corner which Asare took and it went out for another and I said out loud, "if we equalize before halftime, tomorrow I will not eat till after 6 in the evening and the words were 3 meters from my mouth and Abedi Pele headed it in! I'd never fasted in my life yet I kept my vow the next day. In 2006, I jostled the late Coach Arday about Asamoah Gyan's needless omission when he'd netted in the previous match, when Dujkovic gave him a shirt in Kinshasa ,I fasted till after 6 and in 12 minutes the young man who played so well with me at Karikari Park where I saw the innateness of his talent to jostle Mr. Multi System himself in his defense, had confirmed my trust for him to be in order before the Almighty and wasn't the rest history,did anyone raise a finger that Eric Gawu was chosen instead of Gyan?

No one was aware an anomaly was being perpetrated [I was then writing for Weekly Spectator, I made my bones in Spectacular fashion], go and ask in Kumasi who the boss of the 11,11 is? Stephen Oduro[a player after my own heart] won me exorbitant respec when I jostled Coach Bashiru Hayford on his behalf and some 4-1 that an Algerian team collected confirmed God's mercies on my "satchel mouth",were we not all in GH,who first predicted a Hearts/Kotoko 2004 Confed Cup Final with this headline"Only God can fix us a Hearts/Kotoko Final! How I felt sorry for poor Ghanaians that day against Germany? You can't force blessings on the wrong personnel. Just put Razak and Gyamfi in and see if the things said about acceleration will not smoothly come to pass?

Akwasi Appiah has got to show us something beyond our normal GH "pedigree flex" that we've bullied nations within times past and his counterfeit detecting machine must not fail him. Win the cup and Black Stars is yours forever., At least for a nice "gravy train" long while and your salary shall be upgraded in GH gratitude IIf you will be shy of certain unfruitful and untruthful quarters it's up to you As far as I am concerned all is not lost!! No time for cowardly soccer at the tourney, rise oh fallen fighters, rise and take your stance again....THE FIGHT IS AT HAND,.EGYPT, GH DEY COME OOOOH!!! [email protected]