It could very easily have been Nigeria. But somehow fate acted against the ‘arrogant’ giant! Now it is Ghana that is the toast of Africa and the focus of the world. The elements have sided with the country that has continued in the past two decades to set an example for the rest of Africa in good governance and economic and social development. It does not matter whatever happens after now in the ongoing World Cup, Ghana have proved beyond any doubt that their football is a reflection of their country. Ghana have been making all manner of advancement since the re-establishment of democracy in that country. Seeing the passion and commitment of the Ghanaian not to walk, again, the disastrous political path of old that led to nowhere, and to embark on a progressive ideological train, even the elements have joined up with the country in a conspiracy of blessings.  Ghana has discovered oil in commercial quantity and has already joined the league of oil producing nations. Ghana has become the new destination of choice for many tourists from around the world. When Barack Obama chose to visit Ghana ahead of Nigeria he was making a very loud political statement. Now Ghana has joined to its several achievements that of football. In four matches Ghana have transformed into the toast of African as well as World football, setting a good example for the rest of the continent in genuine commitment to football development and nationalism. Having said all of that it is important to know that it has not always been so. Ghana passed through a crucible of fire to emerge on the other side shining the way it is doing in virtually all spheres of life including football.

In 1983 I was in Accra visiting when the military coup that brought in Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon took place in Nigeria. At that time Ghana was a broken country. I recall it as I write this. By 1983 the once boisterous and prosperous country under the leadership of the great pan-Africanist, late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah had become but an empty shell. There were only a few rickety taxis still servicing Accra and only the rich could afford them. So, most people walked around the decaying city. It was hard for me to relate the Accra I was in with the one I knew in 1978 when we had gone to participate in that year’s African Cup of Nations that Ghana won! 1983 was the year of kalabule, a common phraseology in and around Accra at the time. A Ghanaian explained what kalabule meant. It was the ultimate art of survival. The following is only an example. The low-income worker in Ghana at the time earned something in the region of 50 Dollars a month. Meanwhile, the cost of one meal in one of the common man’s restaurants was about 10 Dollars.  Yet, he would feed his family, pay his rent, pay school fees and transport himself and do other necessary things. Do the arithmetic. It does not add up. Yet, under those excruciating circumstances the average Ghanaian survived. How did he do it? That is what is known as kalabule. He trekked everywhere. His home became his children’s classroom. Instead of spending money for most items, goods are exchanged between neighbours. What one neighbour needs and another neighbour has but does not need is exchanged for what the other needs that the first neighbour our has.  It was a difficult, rough and tough life. The water pipes had stopped supplying water. The water dams that powered the hydro electric power in Ghana were working at minimum capacity due to inadequate maintenance. Electricity was rationed 4 hours at atom every day to different parts of the city of Accra. There were very few goods in the few shops that opened, none of them luxurious. In the entire city of Accra the major night life was limited to Bus Stop a bar / restaurant owned by Harry Dakor, a Ghana-born naturalised Lebanese business man who was one of the staunchest supporters of the great Accra Hearts of Oaks Football Club at the time. I met him some years ago and he had become the club’s Vice-Chairman. All social life gravitated to Bus Stop every week day night. It became a tradition for people to congregate before and after Church on Sundays for the restaurant’s special treat, cheap but very delicious indigenous Ghana food! Life was truly hard.

For many years as Ghana deteriorated into political and economic morass, there was a mass emigration of Ghanaians, comprising most of their best artisans and talented footballers, to neighbouring Nigeria and Cote d’ Ivoire.  Military rule was fashionable in this part of the world and it, plus a crunching economic climate, reduced Ghana’s once-thriving football to smithereens! It has taken the country almost twenty years to recover. It was in that period that Nigerian football caught up with and overtook Ghana’s but without diminishing the healthy rivalry that had existed between them through the decades.  For  almost two decades the game in Ghana struggled to get back to reckoning in Africa, from the early 1980s up to the mid-to late 1990s.  Then came President John Kuffour.  He had been Chairman of Ashante Kotoko Football Club long before he became President of Ghana. So, he was deep in the knowledge of the administration of football. He put Ghana back along the path to economic and political growth. Ghana’s football benefited from his vision and social development programmes.  Borrowing a leaf from the example set by Nigeria through the country’s achievements in youth tournaments and championships, the Ghanaians copied, cultivated, mastered the system and took it to a higher dimension. Since Nigeria won the maiden edition of the Under-16 championship in China in 1985 and also the 1993 Under-17 version, Ghana have been seriously challenged and went on to also win the championship. Since after Nigeria won the Gold medal at the Olympics football tournament in Atlanta 1996 Ghana were challenged and they have gone on to win the Under-20 FIFA World Youth championship. Such is the rivalry between the two countries, particularly in football, that either country’s achievement fuels the others determination to do likewise or go higher. Through this, Ghana gradually rebuilt the foundation of its football at grassroots level,  and gradually recaptured its appetite for continental success. It was no surprise that the country broke its almost 50 years jinx and qualified for the World Cup finals in Germany in 2006. Even as first timers they put up a  superlative performance. It is also not a surprise that their qualification for the 2010 World Cup was not by accident nor was it achieved with any great difficulty. It was a smooth sailing ride, so much so that, I believe, Ghana were the first country in Africa to qualify for the 2010 World Cup even before the last matches were played.

So, Ghana came to South Africa in high spirits, a clear vision for the future, with one of the youngest teams of the championships comprising majority of the members of the victorious world champions at Under-20 level.  The players are gifted with skills,  plenty of energy, speed, strength and confidence derived from their previous successes at junior levels.  Right now they have achieved what even Cote d’Ivoire, with some of the most famous and talented footballers playing in Europe, could not do – qualify for the second round of the World Cup. Ghana did and has even surpassed it through the defeat of USA last Saturday in a thrilling encounter that dragged into extra-time and kept the whole of Africa on their toes in prayer and anticipation.  Ghana have done well thus far here in South Africa and all other Africans are rooting for them to go even further. Beyond this point, however, although tougher will now confront them, anything is possible. In evaluating the spirit in the Ghanaian camp at the moment, plus the endless handwork and running of the players, any team that takes Ghana for granted in this World Cup would have only itself to blame.  If the Ghanaians could survive through the darkest periods of their political and social history, they can surely survive the rigours of a World Cup that has an entire continent backing them and rooting for them!

Yet, all of this could very easily have been Nigeria’s story, if only the country had the right visionaries and administrators to make use of its talented players and lessons from past achievements to take the country’s football to the next level! All we can do meanwhile is wish, and pray for our Ghanaian neighbours who are doing what we could not do!

Africa must take a cue from the Ghana Example.

In the weeks to come we shall be critically examining what went wrong with African teams particularly in the wake of expectations that this would be their World Cup and that possibly one of them will win it. For now though we can confirm that the vision to take African football to the zenith of world football is hampered and limited by the present strategy that sets out only to discover talented players and send them to clubs in Europe,  the home front completely forgotten and neglected. So far, although it has impacted significantly and advanced African football up to a point, the effect of this strategy is that football development generated that way has reached a plateau as revealed by the experience in South Africa when all but one of the six African representatives have been knocked out in the first round.

No African team should expect to win the World Cup if this strategy as adopted is maintained without recourse to what happens in the domestic game. A home development strategy must also be in place to ensure a more solid foundation with the subsequent exportation abroad serving only as a compliment to polish the raw material. The domestic strategy will ensure better technical, psychological and tactical development of the African player before they leave home. There must be established a very good programme that will ensure a  continuos process of production of players of quality. In short, domestic football should be better structured to become, as is done in Brazil and Argentina, a continuous breeding ground for gifted footballers. That is what has given these countries the edge. Ghana has shown the way once again. The country’s domestic game is growing in leaps and bounds and there is a steady stream of players coming through with better foundations from home.