Call-up controversies in Ghana, the case of Salifu Ibrahim

The omission of Hearts of Oak’s already booming and flourishing Salifu Ibrahim. This, in all fairness, was a flagrant sin of omission. A somewhat deliberate and willful attempt to fail to do the obvious, to fail to take the required course of action. Like failing to switch off your television set the moment you start dozing off only to begin snoring raucously throughout the quiet night.

Like failing to switch off the light and the air-conditioner while hurrying off to town. Like failing to call up the thriving and enchanting Salifu Ibrahim who only days back bagged for Hearts of Oak all the needed three points in that cutthroat match against Bechem United. His goal, the only goal in that fierce clash, a demonstration of his sheer grit, glitz and glamour: how, despite being swarmed by men in lemon green shirts, he cunningly darted beyond them and buried the ball expertly.

And so when the 27-man Black Meteors squad made it into the media space and it became public knowledge that the promising 20-year-old had been excluded, many who were deeply bewildered began to question the authenticity of the list. Began to also question the very essence of meritocracy in Ghana football.

What sense does it make if despite all your captivating form you still won’t get a national team call-up anyways? That despite your commendable industry and splendid display in the local league and 7 MVPs bagged, it still won’t be good enough to earn you a spot in the U23 team. This, in actuality, has been the grim predicament faced by footballers plying their trade on the local scene. The stark uneasiness that another player overseas who features for a Division one or two side somewhere in Latvia or Bulgaria or Macedonia will still have the upper hands all things being equal.

And so unnumbered suspicions have always briskly surfaced and lurked around after every one controversial call-up session in relation to the national sides. That, perhaps, footballers abroad and mostly those in Europe with very fat weekly wages are more than capable and well-endowed financially to purchase a spot in the national team: to throw money at their problems, to have members of the technical team whose consciences have been put to eternal rest to diabolically ditch meritocracy and instead employ the money theory of call-ups.

This, presumably, has been the long-standing nature and tradition of call-ups of a nation that continues to severely grapple with the standards, the undiluted norms. The very organic way of doing things. Performing well and working miracles with a Division two side in Macedonia isn’t a tangible enough premise to have an equally good local player in the Ghana Premier League be supplanted in the national team.

And so succumbing to critical media opprobrium and severe public backlash, an updated version of the Black Meteors’ U23 squad has Salifu Ibrahim’s name included and also names of a few other players. And still, all this is even a greater indictment of the technical team who tacitly admitted committing a sin of omission, of indirectly admitting their wrongdoings in making that needed U-turn. Hence, the controversies live on.

Bright Antwi

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