Agents and Managers alike, all eyes are watching who will be on the plane to South Africa in just four months time. I know heads are shaking, eyes are blinking, everybody is silent with arms folded waiting to see who and who makes it to South Africa.
At the moment the position of Coach Milovan Rajevac is very unenviable, the man must pick less than a few from a pool of hungry talents all itching to grace the World Cup. Even those who feigned injury to avoid the Nations Cup have their ears firmly rooted on the ground just to hear their names on Milo �s list.
No matter what happens the list would not be with the man from Serbia forever, he will let the cat out of the bag, then the noise will begin.
Have you realized something with Ghanaians?
Anytime a list is presented by whichever coach no matter his origin there are one or two arguments started over players who deserve to be in the squad and those who don�t. Sometimes the masses are correct, sometimes they are wrong. Everybody has got his or her favorite, then comes friends of players who want their interest served, while the issue of family ties exist, making this whole argument of public hullabaloo on players nonsensical.
In 2006, a lot of players started showing up in Patrick Agyemang , Lloyd Owusu, Junior Agogo, Derek Asamoah (not Derek Boateng), the list is endless. They all needed a national team place, for which they knew their market value would swell if they had the chance to feature at the World Cup. Habib Mohammed of King Faisal secured a contract with a foreign club after the World Cup, so you must understand the point being hammered here.
Stephen Appiah moved to Fenebache in Turkey, Illiasu Alhassan had an offer in Russia, all to accentuate the same point, players know the worth in playing for the national team.
With the sterling performance of the unsung players at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola recently, the contest for a place in the limited twenty three man squad has never been keener. There are players who have links in the GFA while others don�t, the stage is drawing closer and nearer, strings are being pulled but can Milovan be affected by influence of the power brokers in the system? In obvious terms, we need a good team to represent Ghana at the World Cup, and that we can produce, if the coach can behave the way he did in our build up to the tournament in Angola.
Remember the World Cup can�t be a platform for experiments. He needs to show strong will and dispel the pressure which will certainly emerge from some quarters.
"Enter Milovan"
Quincy Owusu Abeyie was dropped from the Black Stars camp soon after the arrival of Milovan Rajevac, who described the player as being lazy and unproductive, and that he could only have another chance in future. I think Milovan was right in what he saw with Quincy some time back, the fantasy football was eating the better part of the former Dutch Under 21 star, who switched his nationality to play for Ghana in 2008.
Owusu Abeyie scored a fantastic solo goal against Cote D�Ivoire in a third place match in Kumasi, during the Africa Nations Cup tournament hosted by Ghana in 2008, and from then I started believing there is something special with the boy Arsenal threw away to Celta Vigo of Spain, and then later to Spartak Moscow of Russia, and now with Portsmouth FC of England. He seems to have winnowed himself from the unnecessary antics which disgusted Milovan when he arrived.
Now let�s think together, Ghana wants Kevin Prince Boateng badly; fair enough he has agreed to play for Ghana when the switch is ratified by FIFA, he is a good player we need at the World Cup, but his performance has been outshone in every sense of the word by Quincy, since the arrival of the Spatak Moscow player in England.
Coach Avram Grant was reluctant in introducing him into his play but he has come to love Quincy the more. I watched Quincy �s goal in the FA cup in England and how he set up two other goals which led to his side cruising 4-1 into the next stage of the competition. I�m sure he will start their next game, banker!
Sometimes, it�s easy to have some players who do well at club level but underperforms in national colours. Lionel Messi is still indebted to Argentina, they want him to replicate his performances at Barcelona, Seedorf was very successful at club level, poor for Holland, but you cannot slam the door in Abeyie�s face just because he did not have good games initially.
Times change, Man changes too! Looking at the fact that some players have godfathers in the GFA, and Milovan widely open to anybody�s view, Owusu Abeyie might not have anybody to speak for him but the little seen of the player recently indicates he deserves another bite at the cherry.
Source: Yaw Osagyefo Anaman/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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