A Letter To Coach C.K Akunnor

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 believes 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 performing 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; annex the AFCON trophy that has eluded us for decades. God bless our homeland Ghana.