There's a short video clip of Anthony Baffoe energetically speaking to the Black Stars players which did the rounds on social media.
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AFCON 2021: Ghana continues to struggle and now last-16 qualification is in jeopardy
The Black Stars have a slim chance of progressing to the last 16 of the 2021 AFCON after failing to win each of their opening two group matches…
AFCON 2021: Ghana continues to struggle and now last-16 qualification is in jeopardy
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It was after Ghana's last training session ahead of the Gabon game on Friday that this inspiring speech was made.
In this clip, Anthony Baffoe seemed like an ordained priest, sternly questioning his disciples, challenging their faith, asking if they did not believe, asking if indeed they did not see possible in impossible.
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To some extent that brief footage felt like those motivational Tiktok videos which instantly fills you with fresh hunger, fresh appetite for success.
And so on Friday night, as the Black Stars poured out from the tunnel of the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo to hum the Ghana national anthem, it was apparent in their faces they were out for blood. It felt as if the team were prepared to even walk on fire, prepared to fight for the Ghana shirt and leave their souls on the pitch.
Gabon were without their captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Lemina due to covid, but still came into this game all guns blazing. The opening 10mins of this contest was testament to Gabon's determination to get something out of this game. They knew even a point will put them in pole position to qualify after they had narrowly won their opening game against Comoros.
And yet, despite a slow start to this contest, it was Dede Ayew who fired Ghana into the lead 19mins in. His goal was a thing of beauty, a delicious shot from outside the box into the bottom corner. The sort of goal which is possible only when wisdom and technique unite, when these two things come together.
He had initially remarked the players were willing to fight till their last drop of blood in this competition, and here he led by example with a moment of sheer brilliance. That was his 10th goal for the Black Stars at the AFCON. No player in Ghana's history has more in this competition.
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By the end of the game, the scoreline was one apiece. After the Black Stars had squandered the chance to strike while the iron was hot, Gabon did two-minutes from regulation time. And that was it, millions of expectations back home dashed and the Black Stars' qualification from Group C suddenly in jeopardy.
Perhaps, there is a small minority still torn between fantasy and reality. That is usually fine. But still, the prevailing feeling is that, across the length and breath of this country, Ghanaians are low on confidence but high on discontent.
The discontent of the masses lives in the busy Accra streets where it is hard to find moving public transports and taxis covered with the national flag. The discontent breaths on social media. It is on WhatsApp, on Twitter, on Jodel where many scoff and poke fun at the Black Stars. If ever someone sells you a pack of lies that the entire nation actually believes this team can go all the way, reject it. In practice, all we do is to briefly habour false beliefs during these nervy 90 minutes, hoping that someway somehow the gods of football will not forsake us yet again.
In truth, our lack of faith in this team doesn't in any way denote the absence of love for the Black Stars. All it means is that we are aware this squad is relatively younger than before, inexperienced, comprising 17 debutants at this AFCON. And so we are knowledgeable enough to know that to expect the Blacks Stars to win this tournament is to indulge in some sort of wild fantasy. Especially when individual players who could bend a game to their will are in short supply.
Even so, stranger things have happened in football. Who would have tipped Zambia to win the 2012 AFCON? Tournament football has always been a tricky affair where favourites prematurely bow out, where underdogs cause upsets, where logic is bent and twisted to our utter surprise and entertainment.
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For now, Ghanaians will fret about qualification. Can the Black Stars really qualify from Group C? Is it remotely possible we can finish in second place, or at the very least, as one of the best third-placed teams in the tournament? Only time will tell. Our next game against Comoros who are without a point after consecutive defeats to Gabon and Morocco would be crucial. If the Black Stars can't beat debutants Comoros, then perhaps they have no business being at the AFCON in the first place.
By Bright Antwi
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