FOLLOWING the Black Stars’ loss to the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun last Thursday at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium in Accra, the blame game was rife in the country, on the airwaves, in public transport, offices, indeed, everywhere.
Coach Claude Le Roy and his technical team’s selection for the encounter was flawed and that was the cause of the Stars’ defeat by the Indomitable Lions, the critics said.
In the main, they questioned why the coach selected certain players for the match and not others they believed were in better form to play.
To such critics, Le Roy’s selection affected the Black Stars’ formation on the field and the resultant ineffective positions played by some of the players resulted in Ghana’s defeat.
Admittedly, the Stars’ defeat was too much a pain for Ghanaians to bear and a disappointment too great for us all to endure, particularly so when, to many, the Black Stars had improved their performance from match to match and had reached the championship stage of the tournament on account of a good performance in the preceding match against the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
These developments, having psyched up the whole nation for an eventual win and a celebrations galore, also made an outpour of grief, resentment and fault-finding unavoidable, in the event of the defeat.
That is the reason we would ask our national coach, Claude Le Roy, the technical handlers and all who have responsibility for the Black Stars not to be overwhelmed by the public reaction to the Stars’ defeat.
Rather, they should do all they can to prepare our boys, put them in good shape so that they come out victorious in today’s encounter with the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire.
To all the great fans of the Black Stars, we say having let out the initial steam of bitterness arising out of the defeat, let us rally behind the Stars in our bid for the bronze medal.
Let us use this occasion to ignite in us the never-give-up spirit and live it forever in all national endeavours.
After all, while the Black Stars dazzled, we all joined in the euphoria and as a nation our pride soared.
So, while we play for the bronze today, we should all stand up as one people and give all the support we can muster to the Stars to win the match.
For one thing, the national spirit with which we supported the Stars to beat the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the quarter-final was not there last Thursday.
Let us remember that the failure of the Black Stars to win today will be our failure as a nation to make a mark in the tournament which we have proudly hosted.
Their win will be Ghana’s victory.
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