President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Mr. Edwin Simeon Okraku, also known as the “Game Changer,” is on a noble mission. His agenda is to rejuvenate the passion of the nation with his newly released National Football Philosophy, which is also termed “Ghana Football DNA.”
The Philosophy seeks to give Ghana football a new identity and direction, while creating proper playing pathways for various national teams.
This is to ensure that success can be achieved in the long term with Ghana reinstated as an African football powerhouse.
It is no hidden secret that the country’s football fortunes have been dwindling over the past years with some erratic performances from various national teams.
For instance, the once fearsome Black Stars (Ghana), a hitherto household name in African football, is gradually lurking behind other nations like Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, among others.
The woes of Ghana’s football are real.
Currently, the Black Stars are not among the top-10 ranked sides in Africa and are now 59th on the FIFA Rankings and 11th on the continent.
The performances from our youthful national sides have been largely disappointing as the men’s and women’s teams struggle to qualify for major championships.
In cases where they have the chance to participate in such events, their general performances have been abysmal.
The current Youth and Sports Minister, Mr. Mustapha Ussif, recently fumed over the poor performances of our national teams – telling the players to exhibit the spirit of nationalism and patriotism when representing the nation.
The players should not focus on bonuses, says the Minister.
In his view, the GFA President, Mr. Okraku, contends the National Football Philosophy would be the new framework and manual that would help fix the fundamentals of the country’s football.
It is structured to serve as the bedrock for football development as his administration seeks to sustain the football ecosystem.
Mr. Okraku said, during the launch of the National Football Philosophy, that they ought to strengthen the fundamentals of the most popular sporting discipline, if Ghana was to take its rightful place as a football giant on the continent.
The concept or new direction, according to him, was informed by research by his technical team covering a period of two years.
He explained that the technical team undertook a scientific survey to understand the strengths, weaknesses, and values of Ghana’s football, which triggered the need to establish the National Football Philosophy.
The GFA President noted that coaches would play a crucial role in the implementation of this game-changing Philosophy as they offer the blueprint for the right training techniques to the nation’s younger footballers.
In an interview with the GNA Sports, Mr. Karim Zito, a highly experienced youth national team coach, stated that giving our football identity is the right direction for changing our fortunes.
“So, most of the coaches, including myself, made inputs into this new document because we know what the football fans want.
“We had a certain identity in the past, but we seek to give our football a new identity, so the National Football Philosophy is in the right direction,” he stated.
Mr. Zito said Ghanaians were known for playing good football, as we were once called the Brazilians of Africa.
“Therefore, this new Ghana football DNA would bring back the lost glory of how we played in the past,” he said.
When asked whether the new document would help change the results and performance on the pitch, Karim Zito answered: “Its immediate positive impact on the pitch would depend on us, the coaches, and how we use it to suit the purpose of the new Philosophy, especially at the national level.
“We should be able to use it from the bottom to the top, that is, from Under-17 to the national team.
Paa Kwesi Fabin, an experienced tactician and current coach of Aduana Stars, said the provision of tools to the coaches for this Philosophy to be realised would be key to its success.
“As a nation, we need to provide the required tools for coaches to help in the implementation of this Philosophy. When you go to some teams, they struggle to get the requisite training materials to learn and play with,” he asserted.
Mr. Fabin also stated the need to improve our scouting system, if this Philosophy is to be realised, because we have plenty of football talents.
In conclusion, the National Football Philosophy might be the first step for Ghana to achieve prominence in Africa and world football at large.
But it could take a long time for positive results to be achieved, especially if the right tools are not made available for its implementation.
SOURCE: GNA
