ADVERTISEMENT

Avram Grant at the crossroads

Avram Grant risks breaking Ghana’s run of World Cup qualification if he does not start making big calls, writes Pulse Sports’ Fiifi Anaman

 

It can’t be just a friendly when your team needs work.

The Ghana coach saw his side struggle in front of a large home crowd in Tamale on Friday, charging disastrously off the blocks in Group E's race for a slot at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. A drab goalless draw against Uganda saw the Black Stars drop two valuable points at home, something Grant knows could prove costly in a campaign often defined by fine details.

Egypt – considered by many to be Ghana’s main obstacle in the way of a fourth consecutive World Cup appearance – winning 2-1 away in Congo on Sunday, has turned up the heat on Grant, who suddenly faces the unsettling possibility of failing a nation that has become entitled to a world cup berth.

ADVERTISEMENT

And though the mood prevailing among the fandom this time around suggests failure would strangely be more welcomed than vilified, Grant knows that the stakes are always high when dealing with an institution as respected as the Black Stars, even without its trademark crowd and loud.

On Friday, it was clear that the Ghana team – despite the hot weather – was under the weather. Captain Asamoah Gyan’s output in particular represented a microcosm of the entire team’s outlook on the day: utter mediocrity. A lot of excuses were thrown about in a frustrating attempt to diagnose it too: it was either the elephant in the room: the seething heat of Tamale, or the terrible pitch, or the absence of stars such as Andre Ayew and Kwadwo Asamoah, or even the off-the-pitch wrangling between the Ghana Football Association and the Sports Ministry.

In all of this, though, many missed the glaring need for introspection, the futility of blaming elements outside of the team. The weather and the pitch and the injuries and the rift were all handicaps, granted, but the Black Stars could have focused on changing what they could: their own performance. And they didn’t.

The team lacked spirit and urgency - worrying indicators of complacency. The responsibility to fix this, of course, is all Grant’s: and the South Africa friendly grants him the opportunity to start doing that as soon as possible.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Ghana team arrived in South Africa early Sunday minus first team regulars Afriyie Acquah, Jordan Ayew  and Jonathan Mensah, all out injured, and so that is already a sign that at least three new players will get their chance to hopefully inject some competition into the team with a good performance.

At least is used here because, though friendlies are known for the trying out of players, Grant’s seeming allergy to change and experimentation might just mean he’ll stick to what he knows. And that’s the problem: he can’t afford to do that now, given the miasma of staleness that hovers around the team. If the Uganda cock-up left any legacy, it’s that it’s time to go outside his comfort zone and make some bold calls. If the soft-spoken Israeli trainer wants to absolve himself of the well-documented charges of predictability and monotony – things that characterize his selection and tactics – then the match at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban should be the starting point.

The Black Stars won’t make Russia with neither the current team nor its non-existent spirit, and Ghanaians should desperately wish Grant is too smart to miss this memo. Management Committee chairman George Afriyie admits some players have grown comfortable with their places within the team, and that he is looking forward to seeing some ‘healthy competition’ to elevate output levels, yet he takes two steps backwards with his statement, “but we should also ask ourselves if we have better players than what we have at the moment.”

This has always been the excuse given for not embracing new players. Under normal circumstances, are the current starters better than those on the fringes? Possibly, of course – but we keep missing the point. It is not about being better as a player, but beingon form. It is about the now: who’s hot and who’s not? Put the former’s name on the sheet and show the latter the bench. Eyes should be shut to all the politics. It should be about performance and nothing else.

It’s crunch season. Time to adopt big balls to make big calls. Gyan’s the man when he’s on form, but he’s not at the moment, clearly, and Grant should be man enough to start grooming a replacement with this friendly. Man enough to bench him when necessary, too. Also, that Wakaso – Acquah partnership in midfield, while brimming with a lot of energy, lacks creativity, and it’s time for Grant to address that. If the current pool of options lack depth, he should be objective enough to admit it and rectify it – possibly with the invitation of creative midfielders like Yaw Yeboah or Latif Blessing for the next assignment. Within the current squad, players like Samuel Tetteh and David Accam are on form and capable of breaking into the team: all they need is a vote of confidence from the gaffer, and all the gaffer needs is some manliness.

ADVERTISEMENT

In breathing life into his clearly unconscious team, Grant has to be non-negotiable with his demands for maximum effort and commitment from his charges – and that means form and not names, team and not individuals. He has to be ruthless in dealing with anything that threatens to sabotage the team’s chances of making Russia – and that, at this point, includes his own addiction to being safe and comfortable with his choices and methods, especially given the fact that they are currently not doing the business.

Ahead of next month’s trip to Cairo to face Egypt, Grant speaks of how Ghana can still qualify despite Friday’s result, defending his belief with the cliché, “we have enough quality”.

Unfortunately, quality that is off form is a liability: it is ability without execution, and it’s suicidal if not dealt with.

In Durban on Tuesday night, Grant must be conscious of this, and also of the reality that he is without comfort. And so he has to think and test and try, to be firm and fast and furious. He has to start fixing his team, shaping it right. Above all, he must extricate himself from the delusion that his so called ‘quality’ will bail him out when the going gets tough. Because, really, at this point, this quality is not practical.

ADVERTISEMENT

It’s time to get to work.

Notes:

-Ghana face South Africa on Tuesday night at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. [5.00PM Ghana time]

-The Black Stars are winless against Bafana Bafana in their last two international friendlies: a 1-1 draw in 2008 followed by a 1-0 loss in 2010.

-The last meeting between both countries came in a competitive fixture: at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, where Ghana won 2-1.

ADVERTISEMENT

-Both teams come into this game on the back of opening day draws in their respective Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying openers: Ghana drawing 0-0 with Uganda in Tamale and South Africa forcing an impressive 1-1 draw away at Burkina Faso.

-Ghana will be without the injured trio of Jonathan Mensah, Afriyie Acquah and Jordan Ayew - all of whom picked up knocks during the Uganda game (Jonathan Mensah before). The South African team, on the other hand, will be without Tebogo Langerman, Hlompho Kekana and Keagan Dolly - all of whom have been released to join their club Mamelodi Sundowns ahead of this weekend's CAF Champions League final first leg against Zamalek. Kaizer Chiefs defender Erick Mathoho has also been excused to go grieve the loss of his brother, who died last week.

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh

ADVERTISEMENT