Moving Forward

Wow. What a week for the Black Stars. Due to a particularly hectic work week, I wasn’t able to keep up with my blogging duties or even sit down to watch the games, but at some point I did remember to check the result of the Ghana-Cameroon match. I was pretty disappointed, but I can’t say I’m that surprised.

From the beginning of the tournament, Ghana failed to convince many, especially in terms of goal scoring prowess. The team’s best assets were their midfield, which is mainly powered by Michael Essien, and their defense, which is captained by the redoubtable John Mensah. Unfortunately, due to Mensah’s red card against Nigera, Ghana were dealt a double blow. It wasn’t just the absence of Mensah in the back line - it was Essien’s absence from midfield (he was put in central defense).

I don’t know if I can quite agree with Claude LeRoy’s decision to use Essien as a defender. Essien is just okay as a CB whereas he’s magical in midfield. LeRoy wanted to line up a Mensah-less defense that was as intimidating as possible. Still, I would rather that LeRoy have put in someone else in order to let Essien influence the game in the way he knows best.

What’s done is done, and we can only now work from the benefit of hindsight. I’m just hoping that LeRoy gets a clue sometime soon because the Ghana FA has decided to keep him despite the loss to Cameroon (the 4-2 victory over the Ivory Coast for third place helped).

Ghana have much to look forward too. They have qualifying for World Cup 2010 as well as the qualifying for the African Cup of Nations 2010.

But it will be a very long time when Ghana once again have the chance to win the trophy on home soil.