COMMENT: Milo The Tactician

It is quite ironical as I pick up my pen, with smiles beaming all over my face, sitting behind my desk with a cup of Nescafe in my left hand to write about Milo. I sure hope I�m not going to be drawn into any legal battle as all I�m trying to do is talk about the beautiful game and the not-so beautiful but very effective tactics of a certain man from the Eastern part of Europe who has decided to work in a little West African country full of �lip-style� coaches. I am pretty sure that everyone will agree with me when I say that nobody in this country gave the Stars a dog�s chance of making it past, at best, the quarterfinal stage of the just ended African Cup of Nations in Angola. Not even the staunchest Prophet could predict or prophesise. Interestingly, my great friend at the office, Mr. B.T. Joshua (you can arrange it whichever way you want it) kept quiet throughout the tournament. Perhaps, he just couldn�t say the alphabets in Serbia, how much more give that language (thank God for language barrier). Or maybe, just maybe, he was trying to get his best friend a better job instead of working as a mortuary man. With so many �untouchable� players missing, the prayer of many good Ghanaians was that, the Stars would put up quite a good showing and not humiliate themselves. A friend of mine said he would be elated if we could manage narrow defeats and come back home peacefully. I thought to myself (after the Togo team bus shooting), �wow, what a fine excuse! Let�s pack our bags and get on the next flight to Kotoka. I�m sure CAF would understand. After all we took footballers to Angola and not military men.� Maybe Chuck Norris or �Rambo� would play better under such conditions. At this point, I would like to commend the GFA for being brave and staying put to fight like real men with �real boys� though, since our team had been reduced to under-20s with very little experience. Our opponents, I�m sure were reeling and relishing the opportunity to gulp down these boys and teach them some good football lessons. I guess to them, the Black Stars were only there to make up the numbers and were like breakfast to some school boy (Milo and Bread). But Milovan Rajevac, a.k.a. Milo had other ideas. If his opponents saw his team as Milo and Bread, he was going to make it so hot that they would have no other option than to spit it out. Now, this brings me to my favourite part of this piece, Milo, the tactician. With the team Ghana presented, it was only going to take someone with tactical ingenuity to make any meaningful impact in the competition. Not too many people had any hope in my man from Serbia and I�m not going to exempt myself. I�ve always been a fan of good, exciting and breathtaking football. It is not surprising that I fell haplessly in love with Sir Bobby Robson�s Barcelona of 1996 and have not looked back since. At the same time, I�m a fan of results, positive results, that is why, honestly I think Arsene Wenger should get the boot at the end of the season provided Arsenal go trophyless again(which I think they will). Back to Milo and his very �negative� play but positive result fetching tactics. I don�t think I have seen a team this organized since the German team of the Italia 90 world cup. How Milovan Rajevac got his team to be so organized and disciplined is a mark of coaching and man management at the highest level. The Italian �tachenacio� has proven time and time again that football doesn�t always have to be pretty to get the fans happy. Great coaches have been made and will continue to be made with so-called �negative� tactics. Milo read the situation very well and was able to prepare a team that would take a Ronaldinho at his prime or perhaps a Mohammed Nagy Gedo to cut open. All great coaches and teams in history look at their strengths and weaknesses and play accordingly. That is exactly what Milo did and I believe he deserves every commendation. Football is not all about playing beautiful football but getting results as well. We most often than not easily forget that organising your defense is also an arduous task for coaches. Being able to do it like Milo did is extremely difficult and requires a lot of tactical expertise. Even the great Guus Hiddink resorted to great defensive tactics against Barcelona in the Champions League and almost succeeded but for a last gasp stunner from Andres Iniesta. As football fans, we have the right to criticize anytime we feel it�s due or even sometimes undue. But sometimes, I feel we have to eat our words give credit when due in a case like this. Milo did not only stun the average football fan but the connoisseurs and cognoscenti of the game as well. For me, Milo demonstrated sheer tactical superiority to his peers in Angola, including the great Hassan Shehata. I would really like to congratulate the Black Stars coach for such a majestic performance. Probably, Ghanaians would start taking him seriously now and stop bringing up petty issues such as �he speaks no English or he was a P.E. master before the GFA hired him. From recent occurrences, it is my fervent prayer that he never speaks English before the world cup to ward off conversations that are simply �un-football�. The Black Stars have made each one of us so proud and should not forget for one second that they achieved this feat (first African Cup of Nations final in 18 years) under the tutelage of a certain Milovan Rajevac. At least, now most people, if not all, are singing a different song and are more confident in the man. It really makes me want to believe that the Biblical Peter was a Ghanaian because it is amazing how songs in my dear mother Ghana can change more than three, maybe a dozen times before the cock crows. All said and done, congrats Milo and more grease to your elbows!