Milovan Rajevac: inside story of how Ghana coach quit Black Stars.

This piece was first published online on Thursday, September 9, 2010 on the following page ( http://ghana.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2010/milovan-rajevac-inside-story-of-how-ghana-coach-quit-black-stars.html ).

As you can see it has been pulled down from that page because a party mentioned in this piece felt hard done by and issued legal threats against me and the owners of the page where it was first published.

However, this is my personal page. And I doubt if I will pull it down, or receive any legalese...

As far as I am concerned there is nothing malicious about this piece. It states facts as a journalist has dug up. Perhaps I'm being blinded by my own sense of judgement but if you feel strongly about the article's inappropriateness, please feel free to let me know in the comments section.

The following is a re-publication of the article.


Cheers,

Gary Al-Smith

***

Christopher Opoku sews together a colourful tapestry of the story of Ghana’s relationship with Milovan Rajevac, who has now left the team after guiding it to the last eight in South Africa.

So another era is gone with the exit of Ghana’s head coach, Milovan Rajevac. Contractual disagreements, procrastination plus a break down in trust were factors that ultimately led to his exit and now, for the first time in over two years, another battle royale for the position has already begun.

This piece will attempt to give a clear picture into the events that resulted in the Serbian coach’s decision to leave Ghana for a lucrative job with one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest clubs, Al-Ahli Jeddah.

As you will no doubt be aware, Milovan Rajevac was one of the coaches managed by football management agency, Virtus International, who brokered the deal to get him the Ghana job in August 2008. I use the word ‘was’ because what you are about to read will probably explain why he might no longer be on their books.

The football agency is managed by football agent Goran Milovanovic, who clearly saw the potential in Ghanaian talents and had indeed signed a number of them on the books of Virtus before the Rajevac deal was sealed.

As you may well know, a football agent’s role is to manage either players or managers/coaches, see to their welfare as per employment and obviously take a cut out of the client’s earnings and that is why these days, it is the agents who broker deals on behalf of their clients. Milo’s deal with the Ghana Football Association [GFA] clearly was a boost to Virtus because, through the national team, the Black Stars, some of the players signed up could get opportunities at national level and by so doing, increase their sell-on value.

Also Milo would have been given a brief: to study some national players and recommend them for recruitment by the agency. That is why, after the likes of Samuel Inkoom and Emmanuel Agyeman-Badu signed on for the agency, the widely held perception was that Virtus was influencing Milo’s squad selections, a perception strongly denied by the agency on the grounds that famed French football agent, Fabien Piveteau [profile is in French] had more players in the Black Stars squad than Virtus, including the likes of Michael Essien and John Mensah.

It was clear however that the marriage between Virtus International and Milo Rajevac was a happy one over the two year period. His achievements with the Black Stars over this period served to, at certain points, make the arguments about the football agency’s influence on the team irrelevant because, getting the Black Stars to two continental finals and a World Cup quarterfinal clearly showed that he was doing a good job.

His preference for younger players ultimately proved inspired and if there is one thing Milo did for Ghana, he shattered the aura of untouchability surrounding certain Ghana players and in so doing, brought a lot of competition for places in the team. Gradually, in spite of the fact that Daniel Agyei, Lee Addy, Stephen Ahorlu, Prince Tagoe, Yaw Antwi and recently John Boye and Jonathan Mensah are all on the books of Virtus International, results showed that it did not matter too much.

Also, Virtus International invested in the creation of one of Ghana’s most popular and creible football sites, ghanasoccernet.com which delighted fans and pundits from far and wide with up-to-the minute details about national players, some of which were players on the books of Virtus. The Chief Executive of ghanasoccernet.com and afrikansoccernet.com, another website for African football news, is Benedict Papa Yaw Sarpong, who is the Ghana representative for Virtus International.

Soon, as I have already mentioned, the website became hugely popular and was almost always ahead of the rest, giving exclusive news about Ghana football, with specific reference to the Black Stars. So after the World Cup in South Africa, when there was news about the possibility of Milo Rajevac signing a contract renewal with the GFA, ghanasoccernet.com became the place to go to for any news on the deal. Eventually, on 30th August, 2010, the website published a story headlined, ‘Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac finally signs new deal’.

To tell you the truth, I was delighted because I think Milo has been good for the team and his staying on, would only have benefitted the team. The story went on to reveal that in spite of some other offers, including one from Al –Ahli Jeddah, the Serbian coach had decided to stay with Ghana and had indeed signed the contract. My joy was eventually smashed when the Ghana Football Association came out to deny the story. So, the first question you might be asking yourself, is, what actually happened?

Well, after some investigations were conducted, the findings are as follows:

■ A 4-year contract was discussed, negotiated and agreed by the GFA, Milo and crucially Goran Milovanovic
■ A memorandum of understanding was either signed, or close to being signed by Milovan Rajevac.
■ The contract was sent to the Ministry of Youth and Sports for ratification, but because certain government elements objected to Milo staying on, the ratification dragged.
■ In that time frame, Al –Ahli Jeddah doubled their offer for Milovan Rajevac and when his contract expired on 17th August, he decided to examine his options
■ Apparently, Milo began to feel that Goran, and by extension, Virtus International were going to get a a huge financial slice of the new contract since they were his managers.
■ Milo apparently told top GFA Officials that he felt that ‘he was being fleeced’ by Virtus International in the deal

Add all the above-mentioned issues up, and as ex-international Mohammed Polo put it, Ghana was sitting on a time bomb, which eventually began to detonate when news broke that Milo had been to Saudi Arabia to sign a deal. What we know now was that communication lines were open between Milo and Al Ahli Jeddah before the Ghana game against Swaziland and indeed, some form of agreement was arrived at.

That explains why the Serbian coach was able to describe the rumours of his trip to Saudi Arabia as nonsense, but he clearly stunned the GFA officials later that night, after Ghana’s 3-0 win over Swaziland, by telling them that due to problems with Goran, he needed a week to take a decision. So to some extent, the news that the GFA had given him a week’s ultimatum to decide was not a clear representation of events, because that was when Milo told them that ‘he was being fleeced’.

Milo thus went behind the back of Virtus and left for Saudi Arabia to finish negotiations over the deal. A clearly frustrated and angry Goran began to speak to the Ghana media, blasting Milo for taking a decision that did not have his say-so, and also accusing him of betraying Ghanaians. But in business terms, because Virtus are not entitled to anything substantial from the Al–Ahli Jeddah deal, financially, Goran had lost out because apart from the healthy financial slice he would have enjoyed had Milo signed the Ghana deal, it was a major blow to the master plan of recruiting more Ghanaian players on the books of Virtus because the influence on the national team, if any, is now totally out of the window.

As I said earlier, I am unhappy at the turn of events and I believe the GFA are in a tight corner now. They now have to meet to decide whether Kwasi Appiah [assistant under Rajevac] will handle the team in a caretaker capacity and when I enquired, I was reliably informed that that decision had not been taken. For now, Milo has signed a deal worth a minimum of $110,000 a month with other perks and we have to say well done to him, but it is now time to move on.

The future

Already, an Arab football agent called Mohammed Habashy is talking to one of my colleagues in a bid to get one of his clients, Heron Ricardo Ferreira, to coach the Black Stars and indeed I have had the privilege of sighting Perreira’s CV. Unfortunately, despite being offered a cut in the deal to bring Ferreira to Ghana, my colleague is not interested because he supports the principle of a local coach.

Milo’s departure will no doubt sadden the players but this could mean a return to the national team for Inter Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari, as well as Eric Bekoe [plays for Petrojet in Egypt] when he recovers fully from his injury.

One thing that I am wondering is that if you recall I was told by Virtus a few months back that when Bekoe broke his deal with them, he was liable to pay 1 million Euros for breach of contract, but they decided to let him off, so the question is whether the same courtesies will be extended to Milo, whose relationship with Goran at this stage looks irretrievably damaged.

Of course, others might speculate that perhaps Goran’s public show of frustration in the Ghana media could end up being a cover up for being fully aware of the Saudi deal but for now, I am dealing with the facts available.

Already, Ratomir Djukovic [who handled Ghana at Germany 2006] has thrown his hat into the ring to succeed Milo, but as to whether he is now prepared to deal with the media, which was one of the reasons he cited for not renewing his contract after the 2006 World Cup remains to be seen. Also others seem to think that this is the right time for former France captain, Marcel Desailly to take over the team.

Personally, I think we can do no worse than a coaching duo of David Duncan and Maxwell Konadu to take over the team and crucially given all the support given to Milo Rajevac, but my biggest fear is that it could turn out to be nothing but a pipe dream because of preconceived notions about local coaches.

About the author
Christopher Opoku – get him on Facebook – is the Head of Sports at Metro TV in Ghana. This piece was published in yesterday’s edition [September 10, 2010] of the 'Graphic Sports' newspaper - the country's biggest selling sports paper.

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.

The $1 million craze called paragliding

I went over to the Kwahu Ridge to see what the entire rave about paragliding is about and feel that the hype is justified.


Four years ago, a series of meetings were held to discuss the potential of Ghana’s hilly and mountainous areas to be harnessed for profit. The idea was to join government and corporate muscle to make a new sport on the Ghanaian scene grow.


The sport was paragliding and the Special Assistant to the Minister for Tourism at the time was Mr. Ferdinand Ayim.


Talks were swiftly transformed into action and the Easter of 2006 was penciled as the time for the first ever officially-recognized paragliding event in Ghana to be held. On his way to the place where the event was scheduled to take off, Ferdinand Ayim drove his car into a tanker at Osino, near the Kwahu Ridge area.


It was a heartbreaking death that stunned the nation. But by his death, Ferdinand Ayim became a different kind of savior to be remembered at Easter because his passing on made sure that the living could not forget the reason why it happened. And so, a year later, the ‘Ferdinand Ayim Atibie Paragliding Festival’ was held in his honour.


A fabulous activity
Nowadays when you say paragliding in Ghana, the next thing that springs to the minds of many is ‘Kwahu Easter’. I saw this year’s edition myself. I felt the euphoria. So this piece is not based on hearsay. As I saw it, hang-gliding/paragliding is an air sport powered by light aircraft that allowed participants to fly like birds. It is a bit different from parachuting but I do not think the over two hundred people who took part in this year’s event would mind at all.


A glider resembles a large kite and the rider hangs from it while descending from a height. With this year being the fifth edition in the series, the organizers have had a lot of experience with putting it together. Sabrina Krewin is an American who coordinates the activities and marketing for the festival: “This is not the first time that this is taking place so we were quite comfortable with putting it together. Being the first time the Ghana Tourist Board coordinated the event, as opposed to the Ministry of Tourism who we have been working with previously, we had a few challenges but it has been a resounding success.”


In just a few short years, the Paragliding Festival has become an integral part of the annual Easter celebrations in the Kwahu area, which is the most popular holiday season there. The festival attracts both Ghanaians and foreigners alike for days of spectacular aerial fun, ceremony and music. This year’s four days were busy for all involved and I must rate the success of the event highly.


The difference corporate muscle makes
Adom FM, an Accra-based radio station that is part of the Multimedia Group radio and TV empire, climaxed its tenth anniversary by partnering the Paragliding Festival. The result was a clear demonstration of the power of the media. Conservative informal estimates show that the media blitz increased the overall festival patronage by about 12 percent. Publicity in the print and electronic media for this year’s edition is the biggest seen in the series.


In past years, other notable sponsors of the event have included Kasapa. This time it was the red of Vodafone that took the mantle of sponsorship, while Pepsi continued its association with the event.


The companies would not disclose how much they pumped into the festival, yet the bottom line is that the amounts were clearly not enough. Don’t get me wrong, any money is good money but the companies could have done better for such a fantastic money-making machine.


Sources say that 1 million dollars per annum is not an overblown assessment of how much paragliding can bring into the nation’s coffers.

After sorting out the accommodation, transportation and miscellaneous bills of the pilots who came from more than ten countries to fly the participants, as well as the usual petty cash that goes round in events of this magnitude, much of the rest of the revenue is profit.


Now consider that access to the paragliding area costs 5 cedis while a 10 cedi charge is on each vehicle. The real flight itself would set you back 50 cedis. When you multiply that by the number of people from around the world who would troop in to take part should this be made a weekend sport, you get a feel of what the nation can make. On its own, the Paragliding Festival has the potential to make about thirty thousand dollars annually if turned into a weekend sport at Kwahu alone. Add that to the revenue to be accrued from activity-based events that would revolve around the festival in the area and, if well done, corporate involvement as well. The conclusion is clear that 1 million dollars is easily achievable.


This is especially so as other sites have been seen to have similar weather conditions suitable for the growth of the sport. Hohoe in the Volta Region and Gambaga in the north are known to be future destinations for Paragliding.


Paragliding is perhaps often viewed as a higher-risk sport than it actually is. Nonetheless, there is great potential for injury for the reckless or ill-prepared. The safety of the sport is directly influenced by the skill and sense of the pilot. I am told that almost all paragliding accidents are the result of pilot error. Paragliding equipment is very well built and, if properly cared for, will almost never fail and that is why training is necessary.

Getting there
The potential earning power I mentioned earlier would not just drop into the national coffers, no; investments have to be made. According to Sabrina Krewin, proposals would soon be sent to all stakeholders involved to discuss their plans for a smooth take off of paragliding in the country.


Meanwhile back at the festival grounds in Kwahu, certain things were visible. All the people involved in the real work of paragliding were white. Not a single Ghanaian was part of the putting things together. The organizers strongly believe that this has to change.


“We have proposed a 4- to 6-week Flying School training programme to train indigenous pilots in the art of flying. We’d like to have this in October this year, preferably in Tema in the Greater Accra region,” said Krewin.

Already this seems like an idea many are keen on.


When I spoke to some Ghanaians who took part in the flying as passengers, they expressed their delight in partaking in the Flying School programme. That would be awesome because then it would mean that Ghana can soon join the elite community of paragliding nations.


I have assured that it is not difficult and is actually rewarding as the organizers claim the experience of flying ‘changes ones whole outlook to life.’


International attention
The goal is to get Ghana’s paragliding events as part of the calendar of internationally known paragliding ‘places to be’. Some of the well-known ones are the X’Alps Red Bull Challenge, Wagas Festival (France), Flypa Festival (Spain) and so on.


It is estimated that of the tourists who visited Ghana last year, most of them are engaged in sight-seeing only and it is widely accepted that an increase in tourist figures can be achieved with an equal increase in the number of activity-based events. This means that having a place like Cape Coast Castle, for example, is not enough.


The theory is that to make more money out of a place like the Cape Coast Castle, live cannons (for example) should be made available to tourists for them to have a feel of what colonial life was like. Of course, it will not be free.


The same idea drives the Atibie Paragliding Festival. Hundreds of people have made the Kwahu area their focal point for the yearly Easter festivities. Yet, with the sport of paragliding available to augment the spectacular landscape of the area, it means that the many local and foreign tourists would not leave Kwahu with only large helpings of fufu and ‘akrantie’ in their bellies. The food would last for a few days but the memory of competing with birds in the thermals above would last for a lifetime. And that is not an exaggeration.


More information on potential deals and sponsorship opportunities can be had from the Ministry of Tourism, the Ghana Tourist Board or the website for the Ghana paragliding fraternity which is ghanaparagliding.com.

Hockey, money and CSR

Gary Al-Smith explains, using hockey in Ghana, that pushing money into sport could not always be about instant returns but can be an issue of national pride too.

Many businesses are interested in a double bottom line. They want to make a profit, and they also want to be involved in contributing to solving significant social problems. Some people call it Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Some call it corporate citizenship and others, community involvement. I call it giving back.

For the past two weeks, football has occupied this column. This time, let’s shift gears a bit to something else that stirred my memory when I heard the President, John Evans Atta Mills, reading his State of the Nation address last week.

He mentioned that the government was committed to the development of football and heaped praise on the Black Satellites and Black Satellites for their good performances last year. That was in the open. Yet, privately there is no doubt where his personal passion lay. It is in hockey.

As the father of the nation, it is prudent that the President keeps tabs on every sport because he is, well, the father of the nation. However any realist will tell you that every human being has a direction where he leans more than most. For the President, he leans toward the hockey stick and the hockey ball.

Somewhere in 2007, the Ghana Hockey Association and the then government decided to go for the bid to host the African Cup for Nations in 2009. To the surprise of many on the continent, Ghana won the bid. And so the financial race to put everything in order began.

The race against time
The new 10 million dollar hockey pitch, a whole organizing committee, world class buses for teams and officials, government support and a motorcade leading teams to both training and match venues are not staple sights in the game of hockey in Ghana. Yet, it happened.

With the world’s credit crunching nosily under our economic feet, the hockey-eccentric President Mills gave the go ahead for the Theodosia Okoh hockey pitch to be refurbished.

And refurbished it was. Michelleti & Co - the same guys who took care of making over the Ohene Djan Stadium before CAN 2008 – put the place in shape. Also in the fray was the world acclaimed Belgium based group Edel Grass who took care of the turf. In the spirit of patronizing made-in-Ghana companies, Klogg Ghana was given the chance to see to the civil works and they did not disappoint. The result of this short-notice but high quality work ethic stands behind Accra’s Tema Station.

It is, indeed, a beauty and it got ready before the continent came to town. The facility is now a 1,200 capacity stadium with a two storey roofed VIP Stand, a 64-room three storey hostel, as well as a technical building, floodlights, a media centre and mixed zone among others.

Many argued that $10 million dollars could easily resettle the miscreants at Sodom and Gomorrah or the Buduburam camp (slums in Ghana), yet I’ll argue the psychological benefits this hockey pitch gives the nation is priceless.

Not all about trophies
For 35 years, Ghana has not won the African Nations’ Cup. In 1974 Ghana conquered Africa and a year later played in the competition for the last time. Last year’s tournament, held from July 10 to 18, was the 9th in the series and people expected Ghana, as hosts, to host-and-win.

We did not. Yet, Oko-Nikoi Dzani (pictured), President of the Ghana Hockey Association and Chairman of the Board of Directors of NDK Financial Services believes Ghanaians should not be alarmed by the failure to win gold.

“It is true to generally say that we haven’t won but we must say it in respect of the facilities we have. How could we be expected to win when we don’t have a turf? We couldn’t have hosted anything if we didn’t have the turf. We had the turf only since last year’s so surely it is the infrastructure that gives us the impetus to make an impact in the series of events.”

So the government did its part by providing a lot of money for what has been called one of the best Hockey Nations’ Cups ever and as a result the private sector is taking notice.

During the 2 week long continental tournament, a Sponsors Dinner was held where some of the large companies in Ghana were baited to put their money in hockey. Oko-Nikoi Dzani believes this is paying off.

“The companies themselves saw how serious we were and I can tell you that there would be a lot of involvement soon. They were particularly impressed with the way the games were attended and in the interest.”

Money makes sport go round
For a long time, the involvement of corporate Ghana has been on the low side but companies some companies should be given the golden handshake: IPMC, Bank of Ghana, SSNIT, Ghana Commercial Bank, State Insurance Company (SIC), Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), NDK Financial Services, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Army, Ghana Fire Service, Ghana Prisons Service and Customs Excise & Preventive Service (CEPS).

While interviewing Mr. Dzani, news filtered in from South Africa that Ghana’s under-17 male hockey team was playing well against South Africa. A smile of satisfaction spread across his face. That kind of smile comes only when a man sees progress.

“The Government, past and present believed in the administration of hockey in this country and so they put their weight behind us. We have not, and will not disappoint them.”

This past Monday, the teams returned. The national U-17 male team picked the sole ticket to the maiden Youth Hockey Olympics to be held in Singapore in August this year after they beat host country South Africa 3-1 while the ladies whacked their Zimbabwean counterparts 3-0 to pick the bronze medal at East London, South Africa. Now, that is national progress that instant monetary profits cannot buy.

The domestic Hockey League starts very soon and this is a time where young and emerging talent is scheduled to be tapped. It is also a time to rope in the involvement of the Corporate Ghana. Leading by example, NDK Financiers are pushing up to 45,000 Ghana cedis into sponsorship for the season.

For the business mind the question is how do they recoup their money? “We all need to have a bias,” Mr. Dzani said, adding that “we all need to support a special event in one form or the other. Why are people going in for soccer? Ask me not why NDK is sponsoring hockey because hockey is not a bad sport at all and therefore we don’t think we are the losers. Indeed we will gain. And it is a social responsibility generally as the benefits are not necessarily seen from a financial benefit. Somebody must take that sponsorship mantle point of view the social point of view.”

It is this kind of help that hockey needs to move from where we are to be true world champions. As the former Sports Minister Alhaji Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak said: “Government alone can't fund sports -an avenue which provides and engages the youth of our dear land.”

Corporate CSR: what to do
Last year’s tournament left a legacy, not only of a standing sporting complex but of a lasting memory of good hockey sportsmanship among the estimated eight thousand people (or more) who, in total, witnessed the games. Not forgetting the tens of millions who watched proceedings on Metro TV.

“The legacy is hockey. People think of it, people dream of it. They may have come for curiously but there’s no doubt we have generated interest among new and even old lovers of the good.”

That is Mr. Dzani again. But he concedes that this may not be enough to keep the hockey flames burning. According to him, for the game to develop Ghana needs pitches in all regional capitals or at least the focal towns and cities in the country.

“For a pitch, two to three million dollars should give us a decent one with a capacity of about sixty thousand. I expect us to have one in Kumasi, Cape Coast and other places”

Alternatively if your company wishes to aid in efforts in this sport, try doing what many outfits have done in the past: sponsor a hockey team and name it after your company, much like NDK Financiers did in February 2003.

Money in, money out. That’s the easiest way I can explain the principle of business to my younger siblings. Yes, the same applies to sport but as we can see, sometimes it’s all not all about making more money. Sometimes it’s about the timeless art of putting back into the community.

The draw and the additional issues

Group A

South Africa
Mexico
Uruguay
France



Group B
Argentina
South Korea
Nigeria
Greece

Group C
England
USA
Algeria
Slovenia


Group D
Germany
Serbia
Australia
Ghana


Group E
Netherlands
Japan
Cameroon
Denmark




Group F
Italy
Paraguay
New Zealand
Slovakia




Group G
Brazil
Portugal
Ivory Coast
North Korea


Group H
Spain
Switzerland
Honduras
Chile


So what did you guys think of the draw? Especially for the African teams?


Did we put on a good show? Honest opinions please!


And how favorable/unfavorable was your country's group?


I think our group (Group D) is going to be so difficult for us.

Arsenal-Chelsea: a Songful preview

Some say it would be a clash between brute strength and silky football when the London giants meet. In what should be one of the biggest matches in Europe this weekend, Arsenal would have to win to have any good chance at the title.

So far, Arsene Wenger has done an appreciable job of serving his exotic cuisine of attractive passing attacking football. Perhaps one player who has suprised many with the speed of his development is Alex Song Billong.

Many pro-Arsenal blogs like Arseblog, Arsenalist, Arsenalmania and Goonernet have, in recent weeks, portrayed the young Cameroonian as quite indispensable to any silverware ambitions the club may have this season. For me, that is not far-fetched at all.

I was standing behind the goalposts when Ghana lost to Cameroon in the semi of the Ghana 2008 Afcon. Alex Song was mammoth in that game as he'd been throughout the competition. Never mind his size as compared to Ghana's Junior Agogo, Michael Essien or even the bullish Sulley Muntari, the lad played like he had been doing that all his life.

Suprisingly, that Afcon was his first major international tournament. In the end he was so good he was named in the competition's Best XI.

Against Chelsea, I expect Arsene to play him especially after his Man of the Match performances against Sunderland and Standard Liege. The middle of the field was his, that much was clear. And maybe he can even get that rare goal - now that'd be special.

At 22 years and at this rate, the little man from Douala may yet be one of the best central/defensive midfielders in Europe in a season or two.

Ancelloti is likely to employ a rugged midfield - like he usually does - and apart from Song, I'm not seeing who the Arse would employ to match the strength of the blues. Gallas left the last game with eyes like a pufferfish and if he would play, Song may get some respite. Otherwise it's gonna be a tiring day for the man who was loaned to Arsenal on a £1 million from Bastia.

Personally, I'd like an Arsenal win and here's why: in an ideal world Wenger's vaunted scouting and youth development policy must be seen to be beating over Abramovich's ridiculous 'buy-and-win' way of ruling Chelsea since he arrived in 2002-3. Sadly, our planet is anything but ideal.

That said, I cant wait for the game, can you? Especially to see how Eboue fares, too.

Till later.

Angola 2010 campfires lit as Nigeria/Ghana choose spots

After the Draw was held last week and we've seen all the occupants of the 4 groups, Angola 2010 is now gathering momentum.

Nigeria have announced that they would NOT camp in the rainbow nation as earlier decided - they've opted for Namibia instead.

According the nation's football top dogs, Namibia has similar weather conditions to Angola and so it would be better suited to the Eagles acclimatization than South Africa.

However in a differing opinion, Ghana's Football Association announced last Monday that they would prefer Nelspruit (South Africa) for their preparations for both the Nations' Cup and the world cup.

The Super Eagles are scheduled to begin camping on 28 December and coach Shuaibu Amodu says he'll start inviting players into the team for Angola in due course.

The final 23 is widely expected to be announced by the 18th of December.

Ghana have penned 27 December as the start date for their camping.

Angola 2010: Group B - Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso.

Group C: Egypt, Nigeria, Mozambique, Benin.

Black Stars lose...

In 14 meetings against Benin, Ghana had won 8, drawn 5 and lost once. This stats stood until the last seconds of yesterday's game in Cotonou.

A good many people are saying the match was 'democratised'. How and why would they not say that when their team had neither lost a game nor conceded a goal in these qualifiers?

But I should say the implosion of the Black Stars was always coming - moreso in the second half. The guys just went to sleep and Benin just kept on piling the heat. Anyway Ghana have already made it to RSA so why worry? Right?

Wrong. Because we all know what football is like. Laters.

Semis sorted. Now the 4-play begins.

It's getting down to the wire in Egypt 2009. After Ghana booked a place in the semis with Hungary yesterday it was left with four teams to sort themselves not.

Brazil - Germany was not shown on tv because, as the national tv station said it was 'a problem from source'. However from the little I gleaned from various sources, the South Americans did not have it coolly at all. Germany gave 'em a torrid time but once again, the skill and character of Rogerio Lourenco's team prevailed. Brazil's Betincourt scored twice in rapid succession to lead his team on a 2-1 comeback.

With the win, Brazil are tied on 13 goals in this tournament with Ghana. Spain lead the goal scoring charts with 14, of course aided by the 8 they hit past Tahiti. But I must pay tribute to the mechanical football of Germany that has borne them the results even if not so beautiful.

The second of today's games was Costa Rica - UAE. Before the game, pundits were not clear cut on who to tag favourites because these two had all done so well to be here. Especially UAE (I'm sure Blatter would be gloating about the efficacy of the Fifa Goal projects that have increased the football development of many nations like the Emirs who were hitherto seen as backward in the sport.)

Yet, the Concacaf champions scored a winner in the final minutes of the final half of extra time to break Emirates hearts. For me, 2-1 was a cruel way to leave Egypt but hey that's the game. A little loss of concentration cost 'em. Too bad.

Well, the fixtures are set: Ghana - Hungary and Brazil - Costa Rica. I'll be bringing videos of today's games soon.

Laters.

Cecil the legend

A few weeks ago the GFA boss and his people honoured past Chairmen of the Football Association. That was, for me, the beginning of recognition, appreciaition and thanks in Ghanaian football after so long.

It may have been done in the past, but not at this high level. Now, I am pleased to see that Accra Hearts of Oak have followed suit.

The honour titled “Most Valuable Coach of the Century” was conferred on veteran coach, Cecil Jones Attuquayefio at a special ceremony in Accra yesterday.

The celebrated coach guided Hearts to four Premier League titles (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001) and two FA Cup titles (1999, 2000). The most notable, surely, is the Caf Champions League in 2000 and the Super Cup in 2001. He returned in 2005 to lead Hearts to win the maiden edition of the 2005 Confederations Cup.

For me, this is the beginning of gratefulness in Ghanaian football. Hearts say the decision to honour the coach is to immortalize his contributions to the success of the club.

Commodore Mensah, Board Chairman of Hearts of Oak said:

“Jones can be described as the most celebrated coach of a club side in Ghana, especially among the coaches that have worked with Hearts of Oak.

“No Coach in Ghana, before him and till now, has won three (3) CAF Inter-Clubs competition gold medals.”

Not only in Ghana.

He was also named the CAF Best Coach in 2001 and guided the Squirrels of Benin to their maiden attempt at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2004.

I hope other clubs follow in this regard especially with builing stadiums and naming after club legends.

That would be very special.

Ghana doesn't feature in the FIFA 30 but are in the ELOs!

Ghana does not feature in the Fifa rankings of September despite being the first in Africa to have qualified for the 2010 event. And that brings (familiar) bashing of the Fifa rankings.

The Fifa rankings have come in for critique for years and years. Especially as the people in Zurich seem to put undeserving teams in positions of prestige all the time.

Take, for instance, putting the USA in fifth position around the time of Germany 2006 and you know what i mean.

So what's the alternative? Answer: Elo ratings.

This was adapted from Dr. Elo’s world chess rating system by footy fan Bob Runyan. How do the two differ? Basically the FIFA system works like a big league table of the last four year’s results, but with points weighted by the type of game (eg World Cup final more valuable than a friendly), the opposition, confederation and time past since the game. My colleague at WCB, Laurie, furnished us with an excellent explanation here (seriously, go read that if you want to understand the FIFA system.)

The Elo system works a little - but not dramatically - differently. As with FIFA’s it’s a giant league table, but using data from (and I quote) “international football 1872 - present”. The system takes into account the type of game (World Cup, friendly, etc) but also the score as well as the result (ie how many goal did a team win by) and also the win expectancy (ie was the team expected to win, and by how many goals.)

A full explanation of the Elo football system can be found here.

In the end (to numerical simpletons like myself) it’s all just numbers and formulas. Who can say whether FIFA’s P = M x I x T x C x 100 is any better than Elo’s Rn = Ro + KG(W − We) ? The proof is really in the pudding.

And in this case let's see what Fifa's first 30 rankings for September says...and what the Elo's say too.

FIFA:


Elo:


So what do you think?

What the Ghanaman could not, the Serbians have done. Twice.

When history comes to be written, the football bards would sing a song.
The first stanza of the song will say that four years ago, Ratomir Dujkovic did a great job of taking Ghana to its first World Cup.

Never mind that he was the fifth in a series to coaches to steer the Black Stars into the World Cup after Sam Arday, Mariano Barreto, held the fort in the qualifying series.

Now, in 2009, the second stanza will likely say that another Serbian is doing same.
Milovan Rajevac Some great coaches in the nation’s history have failed to do that: Robert Mensah, Ibrahim Sunday, CK Gyamfi, Malik Jabir, Ben Kusi and Osei Kofi among others.

And then there are others like Jones Attuquayefio, EK Afranie – all these mentioned coaches had great players like Anthony Yeboah, Abedi Pele, Isaac Paha, Abdul Razak, Mohammed Polo, Peter Lamptey, Dan Owusu, Awuley Quaye and Kwasi Owusu and countless others.

But hey, we shouldn’t forget that the money, too, has counted.
Dujkovic did it four years ago on a modest salary of $15000 a month and Milo is doing it with a paycheck that is five times over. How much are we willing to pay Ghanaians to take us to the world cup?

That, I believe, is another bone to pick on another day.

ps: Never mind that Ghana is not fully at the World cup....they are already there as far as I am concerned!

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.

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¡

How much they have loved Derek

I reported a couple days ago that Derek Boateng was moving on. A high quality midfielder, he possess sound defensive abilities but has exhibited a flair for the attacking end.

The clamour from his former team FC Koln for him to stay is in full swing. Koln coach Christoph Daum was particularly pleased with his disciplined team play, good leadership qualities and that he is rarely culpable for defending errors.

And it is not at all new.

AIK

When he left his Swedish team AIK Fotboll, the country's TV4 Sport channel made this video of him to recap his time there.



For those who follow him, they might remember how he fell on the ground crying when his team AIK was relegated for only the third time since they were formed in 1896.

And it is amazing how Ghanaian players hold on to God in all interviews no matter where they are in the globe as Derek showed in the interview.

Beitar

Here is another cult video of him after he left Beitar. I couldn't stop laughing at his stunts.