Michael Essien's injury: is he irreplaceable?

Ghana’s radio and TV waves are on fire with the news that Michael Essien will not play in South Africa.

That the news is a telling blow is a given. The question is this: how would it affect our play?

Saw it coming
Many comments in the info-sphere in the past few hours show that a great many people were mentally prepared of this, given Michael’s own recent comments. In April, he told the Chelsea website that:

“If I make it for the World Cup then great – if not I have my whole career ahead of me. The last thing I want is to rush back and cause more problems down the line.”

A sound argument, but when he said that, many started feeling that the guy knew he wasn’t in good shape. Essien, as we know him, is a combative guy who does not go down unless he really is hurt. This is such a case.

The debate has been mostly about how unfortunate the whole thing is and crucially, how this would affect Ghana. Would we look back and say Essien’s absence cost us dearly?

Before we go on, take this quick poll:



So who replaces him?
Who in the Ghanaian team can bring what Essien brings to the side? In my opinion, nobody. His box-to-box effectiveness and his careful, accurate, passing as well as his multi-positional play and penchant to move forward and be an auxiliary striker are…well….priceless. I’m sure you agree.

Now, let’s look at the options.

Kwadwo Asamoah
I think the 21-year old Udinese dynamo is Essien-lite, but that’s all he is, Essien-lite. Yes, his passing ability is arguably better than Michael’s but he remains a very attacking minded midfielder. I’m yet to see anyone play Kwadwo as a utility player. That said, I feel he is the nearest to an Essien replacement in the Ghana setup.

Derek Boateng
Talented? Yes. Versatile? Yes. Essien’s kind of versatile? Nope. Derek is a good player whose form this past season with Getafe has been blistering, but he is miles away from being Michael. Derek is a good distributor of the ball and like Essien, can hold on to play if need be. But when it comes to strength and bull-like play, you have the wrong guy.

Bernard Yao Kumordzi
Think Nwankwo Kanu of Nigeria of Patrick Vieira of France. Perfect clone. A midfielder based in Greece with Panionios. The 25-year-old has also represented Norrkoping in Sweden and Egaleo in Greece having started his career in Ghana.

His tall and languid (not tall and lazy as some say) nature endears him to some brand of coaches, but he cannot replace Essien. Simple as that. A littel more about him: Bernard made his international debut for the Black Stars against Brazil in March 2007 and scored his first goal against Iran soon afterwards.

So what do we do?
Essien’s exclusion is now known, but we do not know if he may be taken in a Beckham-esque capacity to motivate the team. That would be a waste of space, because Essien is a very shy man, in terms of telling colleagues what to do and dictating play. He is not the Appiah kinda leader, sorry.

If Essien is dropped altogether, then it means that an extra seat on the plane needs to be filled. The bottom line is this we have to move on. And the coach knows it.

“There are other young and hungry players who will be equally passionate to play.”

The next few days would be very interesting. Who would/should Milovan put in Essien’s stead and how would it affect the team? Or are we even overblowing the issue?

Let’s hear you, while you vote as well.

Tema Youth’s plan to court CAS

We have known the ‘what’ of the Tema Youth case but, crucially, not the ‘how’ they plan to do that.

Now we know.

Still reeling from the fact that they have been relegated from the Glo Premier league, Tema Youth have already said they would go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland if what they see as a GFA error is not corrected.

They have filed for another review today and to give this a broader perspective, here is how the issue really happened, according to Tema Touth. The GFA’s Appeals Committee declared Tema Youth losers of their games against Berekum Arsenal and Sekondi Eleven Wise for fielding an unqualified player, Emmanuel Clottey.

Now, Tema Youth were first shorn of six points (and another six after the Committee chairman said the first six was not enough an d was an error), causing their relegation. As for the club, they claim Clottey was a Great Olympics player and then had a six-month spell in Denmark.

On his return, Tema Youth claim Clottey was registered by them on April 8 this year during the second transfer window. This, they say was after the receipt of the player’s International Transfer Cert (ITC)

And so Tema Youth insist they met all that was required by the FA and FIFA law.

Well, from the GFA point of view, these are prickly times considering that Nyantakyi is also in hot water over his alleged unhealthy bribery comments.

But let me say this: I would be massively surprised if Tema Youth win this case in Ghana, let alone at the CAS.

Nyantakyi says you can bring it on!

Hello there. What's good wherever you are?

A couple of days ago, some of my media pals were in a frenzied state of accusatory agitation. The reason? The Ghana Football Association president (Kwasi Nyantakyi) had scored an own goal – as some put it – when he had urged referees to take bribes…

…he did ask them to take bribes and even recommended that referees who take bribes and report such cases be handsomely rewarded with amounts perhaps double the bribery sum.

If you ask me, this is a very touchy situation but I tend to agree with what he is saying because we live in a world where no matter what you would do, referees would always be approached to fix games. To defend himself from the outcry that has arisen, he’s said he was taken out of context.

The GFA president is quoted by the Graphic Sports paper as saying that he couldn’t possibly have condoned corruption at last Saturday’s event which was where he made those utterances. In his own defence he says:

“Unless my comments were taken out of context I don’t think my comments in any way sought to encourage corruption among football referees in Ghana.

I told them to collect the bribes and do the right thing. I had first made the point that corruption in any form cannot be tolerated and in football we need to weed out such practice.

If there are no bribe givers there would not be bribe takers. Accepting and delivering fairness would discourage the givers...”

He didn’t stop there in his address as the young lawyer also went on to say that a particular crop of referees who are noted to take bribes are known to the authorities.

“But because in any case of bribery both the giver and receiver are guilty, those who make such allegations in informal settings are reluctant to provide evidence to support such cases.”

Well, so that’s the whole wahala of the issue which I feel is a non-issue. I fully support his pronouncements. Meanwhile people have said that the Parliament must call him to order and question him publicly though Nyantakyi says he doesn’t know anything about that.

Me, I think his explanations in the papers are enough.

Enjoy the weekend, all!

News in a minute + learning from Argentine video

It is a calm Thors-day and I start with some trouble in Ghana's Premier League.

The GFA confirmed today that Tema Youth have really been relegated, despite the team's protests. Now the financier Emmanuel Kyeremeh says they will seek redress at the - wait for it - Court of arbitration for Sport.

The man is pissed and no mistake. However, I fail to see why he wants to drag the inevitable when it is clear that he may likely lose. The team lost the appeal at the FA because they fielded an unqualified player - Emmanuel Clottey - last season. Because of that they were nicked six points, pushing them straight into relegation.

Yet, they contend that they have done no wrong. Oh well.

Laryea Kingston’s return to the Black Stars set-up could be delayed after his club Hearts asked the national team to excuse him from the international friendly against Zambia in London, claims kickoffghana.

And meanwhile in Division One, 12 clubs would start their quest to play in the next GPL on August 16, so says Ghanasoccernet.

And finally, where lies Junior Agogo's fate?

Finally, finally (for the last time) here's a glimpse of what Argentine football has become following the suspension of their league. They say Argentina is all about beef, tango and football. Well, the last is now in doubt, innit?

Seriously, though...could Africa's soccer leagues be that bankrupt? Oh yes, they can. We hope to learn from our Latin pals in the video.

Adios, jefes¡

Ghana wanted a televised league. Now Ghana can’t watch.

Well, at least parts of Ghana. The national league became what it is today in 1956, when it was formed. Since then it has been a long journey of ups and downs - but mostly ups.

The league has been called several names, but now it is the:


That’s right - Glo Premier League.

And television leverage has been one of its biggest problems.

Earlier in the week, Ghana’s information minister was roughed up a bit by the Minority in Parliament who claimed she provided unsatisfactory answers to questions on the floor of the House.

The Glo Premier League was top of the agenda as Zita Okaikoi was in the House to answer questions relating to her ministry.

Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, MP for Takoradi, had tabled a question before the House on when Ghanaians across the nation will be able to watch the GPL live on Ghana Television, the state run broadcaster.

At the moment, the station is the only one that has nationwide coverage.

According to Joy FM, the minister had told the House the state broadcaster intended to telecast “all 36 league matches” of the Glo Premier League currently in its final stages, however it failed, along with other stations, to win the bid for the rights.

Optimum Media Prime - Talal Fattal’s baby - currently has the rights and until it expires, not much can be done.

The minority pounced on the answer, arguing that the minister had misinformed the House because the matches in the league are far in excess of the 36 she quoted.

Indeed the Ghanaian League is a 16-club league in which each club plays the others in a two-tie, home-and-away basis. That makes a total of 480 matches.

Away from the drama in Parliament, Metro TV (through which OMP shows the games) shows at least one live game every week. They also record 4 matches within the same period and try to show delayed telecasts later.

This means that only few of the usual 8 matches played at a time are shown at a go. Even on days that fewer than eight games are played across the country, the network is unable to show more than one live game at a time.

And even with the games that are shown, there have been complaints about the mode of match selections. Someone noted the other day that Sporting Mirren – who did well to languish at the bottom of the league nearly the whole season - matches receive a goodly amount of airtime to the detriment of more ‘exciting teams’ in the middle of the GPL league table.

I sit back and say, Mirren is Mr. Fattal’s team, no? And the station that shows the GPL is his as well, no?

There you are!

This means that only few of the usual 8 matches played at a time are shown at a go. Even on days that fewer than eight games are played across the country, the network is unable to show more than one live game at a time.

Anyway, the result of this one-live-game-at-a-time thing is that there are several great games in the GPL that have been missed by the populace except those who could trek to the stadia.

Sadly, that number is not much, anyway. My people tell me that on a good day, Accra’s Ohene Djan stadium sees a capacity crowd of – wait for it – seventy (70).

Despite this decidedly gloomy picture I’ve been painting, we must admit that the GPL coverage on Metro TV is the best Ghana can get at the moment, because GTV simply cannot afford that extra cost.

Private ownership of the coverage is all we have and we have to make do with it. However, and I say this with misgivings, GTV and Metro TV could come to a certain agreement.

They could agree that to make the matches more accessible to the general public and for the good of the game, the two entities could split the rights in the following way:

Metro TV and GTV would each take 4 games every week to show. These four games would be evenly distributed such that no one station gets the ‘juicier’ games.

That, I believe, can easily be arranged.

All Blacks help themselves + more head-to-head stuff

The fight at the bottom of the table is becoming clearer.

Gamba All Blacks won 1-0 to grant themselves a temporary reprieve down there. The game was declared outstanding due to security fears.

The Black Magicians must now win their last match against Tema Youth to stay in the elite division. Eleven Wise are in danger and are just one point above the relegation. They need to win against Kessben on Sunday to stay safe.

Meanwhile, the executive committee of the Ghana Football Association has decided that the head-head rule will apply in relegation battles.

The GFA had decided before the start of the season that the rule will only be used in determining champions but after a meeting on Tuesday, the GFA says it will use the system to determine all sixteen places on the Premier League.
GFA president Kwasi Nyantekyi says the body decided there must be some uniformity in deciding the placings.
Sporting Mirren are already relegated but Liberty Professionals, Eleven Wise, Sekondi Hasaacas, AshantiGold, Real Tamale United are all not safe heading into the final day of competition on Sunday.
Nyantekyi also says the football association will clear all cases involving Tema Youth and Berekum Arsenals that could have a bearing on the standings of the League by tomorrow.

All Blacks – Wise tie rescheduled due to violence.

As we speak the game is on.

This outstanding Glo Premier League game will be honoured today after it was put off due to violence in Swedru on Sunday.

The match officials ruled security was not adequate for the game to be played on Sunday after scuffles broke out between fans of the two clubs over which entrance the visiting team and the fans should use.

Wise claim some of their players were injured in the scuffles but All Blacks deny that and insist the trouble had been instigated by macho men of Wise who insisted on using the same entry route for the players.

The PLB ruled however at a meeting on Monday that All Blacks had been responsible for the trouble and fined them 1500 GHC.

The game will now go ahead but with enhanced security at the venue today. The Professional League Board says the game will be played under the watchful eye and protection of 100 policemen and soldiers in a bid to avert the violence that has become part of the everyday story of the Ghana Premier League.

With relegation battles more intense than ever, games in the closing stages of the season have gotten increasingly intense and last Sunday’s scenes at Swedru highlighted that.

All Blacks need to win that game to give themselves a chance of staying up but defeat or even a draw will condemn them to the first division. Defeat for Wise will also leave them with all to do ahead of the final day fixtures.