Ghana Black Stars

Undeniably, Ghanaians are passionate about football. Therefore, the painful and early elimination of the senior national soccer team, the Black Stars, from the just-ended Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Egypt on penalty shoot-out gives cause for deep concern.

Having drawn one all with the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia at full time, the Black Stars were booted out via a 5-4 penalty shoot-out at the Round of 16. Thus, they failed again to end the trophy drought, much to the chagrin and utter disappointment of most Ghanaians.

Prior to the match, Tunisia had never beaten Ghana since the inception of AFCON in 1957. However, when it became imperative to use penalty kicks to break the tie for the first time between both countries, Tunisia had its first victory over Ghana.

With regard to the premature elimination of Ghana from the tournament, I think the following questions are worth asking: When will the Black Stars excel at penalty shoot-out?  Has the team been cursed with penalty shoot-out after 1982? When will the senior national team end the trophy drought? What is really wrong with the Black Stars as regards penalties?

After defeating host nation Libya 7-6 on penalties to win the 1982 AFCON, the Black Stars have painfully lost their last five penalty shoot-out in major tournaments including the FIFA World Cup. And my beef is the consistency of the fiasco. Undoubtedly, there is something basically and technically wrong with the Black Stars that deserves serious national attention.

A Streak Of Penalty Defeats

In retrospect, exactly a decade after winning the AFCON in Libya, Ghana drew goalless at full time with the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire in the final of the 1992 AFCON in Senegal, after which the Ivoirians won 11-10 on penalties to win the trophy for the first time. Indeed, that defeat was extremely painful considering the splendid performance of the Black Stars from the onset of the tournament. Ghana defeated countries like Zambia, Egypt and Nigeria.

At the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010, penalty shoot-out denied Ghana a glorious opportunity to be the first African country to secure a berth at the semi-finals of the Mundial. Having drawn one all with Uruguay at full time, the Black Stars lost 4-2 on penalties to the Uruguayans. Of course, that is the most heartbreaking of all the penalty shoot-outs the Black Stars have engaged in so far.

Again, when Ghana reached the semi-finals of the 2013 AFCON in South Africa, the Black Stars lost 3-2 on penalties to the Stallions of Burkina Faso, after being held to a one all draw. That was Burkina Faso’s first appearance at an AFCON final. Eventually, Nigeria won the trophy.

Besides, in 2015, for the second time, Cote d’Ivoire defeated Ghana via another penalty shoot-out to lift the AFCON trophy for the second time. After a 120-minute goalless action, the Black Stars succumbed to the Elephants.

Unfathomably, Ghana scored its first two kicks while Cote d’Ivoire wasted its first two, yet in the end the Black Stars lost the shoot-out 9-8, missing a fine opportunity to avenge the 1992 defeat at the hands of the Elephants.

To add insult to injury, the ‘penalty curse’ seems to have afflicted the local Black Stars too. It would be recalled that when the local players clashed with their Libyan counterparts at the grand finale of the 2014 CHAN tournament in South Africa, they lost to the Libyans via penalties, thereby failing to win the trophy for the first time.

The foregoing facts clearly lend credence to the point that penalties have done a great deal of harm and damage to Ghana. When it became highly crucial for Ghana to advance to the semi-finals of 2010 FIFA World Cup, Asamoah Gyan wasted it. The ‘penalty curse’ is a pity, to say the least.

Effects Of Defeats

Ghana won the AFCON trophy in 1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982. For the record, Ghana has also come up as runners-up five times in 1968, 1970, 1992, 2010 and 2015.

When Ghana won the AFCON trophy for the fourth time in 1982, Cameroon had never won the trophy while Egypt had won it two times. In those days, Ghana was the cynosure of all eyes in terms of football. Our dream was that Ghana was going to dominate the African continent with regard to football. Sadly, 37 years down the line, that dream is yet to materialise. The team has lost its touch over the years.

Currently, Cameroon and Egypt have surpassed Ghana’s record. Whereas the former has won it five times, the latter has won it seven times.

The issue at stake is very serious in that if Ghana had excelled at all the aforementioned penalty shoot-outs, it would have won the AFCON not less than six times; it would have been the first African country to reach the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup; it would have advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2019 AFCON; and it would have won the CHAN tournament for the first time in 2014.

Any Hope For The Black Stars?

Based on the import of this piece, I would like to appeal to the technical handlers of the Black Stars to emphasise penalty shoot-out a great deal at their training sessions. I strongly believe that with the right technical approach, the problem could be nipped in the bud in future.

There must be a plan for penalty kicks. For instance, the team must have its first five penalty shooters. This approach might come in handy one day. The team will be barking up the wrong tree if players are selected at random for penalty shoot-out when the time is due.

Besides, psychologically, we have to work on the mental fortitude of our players. If the problem is due to fear or mental strain, the players must be psyched up mentally. It takes skills, self-confidence, focus and determination to excel at penalty kick.

Aside from penalty kick, the players must be coached to make good use of other set pieces such as free kicks and corner kicks. I’ve noticed that our players don’t make good use of set pieces at all. It’s high time they took good advantage of set pieces.

I wish the Black Stars all the best in their future matches!