3 lessons from Ghana’s triumph in the WAFU Cup 2017 tournament

pulse-ghana admin

September 25, 2017 12:45 PM

Pulse Sports' Kwaku Anno-Kumi highlights lessons we can all take from Ghana winning the 2017 WAFU tournament

Ghana was able to annex the 2017 WAFU trophy after beating fellow West African giants Nigeria by 4-1 in a much-anticipated final.

Two goals were scored by Stephen Sarfo of Berekum Chelsea with Vincent Atingah and Winful Cobinah from Accra Hearts of Oak getting the other two goals.

Veteran Rabiu Ali got the consolation goal through a fantastic free kick for Nigeria but he and his teammates were out of time to salvage anything from the torrid final they had.

We now zoom into the lessons we can derive from Ghana winning the WAFU Cup after annihilating their sworn rivals Nigeria in the final.

1 Maxwell Konadu is a listening coach.

Maxwell Konadu was under immense “hot water” as his name could not rest in the media after failing to qualify Ghana to the 2018 CHAN tournament.

A lot of criticisms came through left, right, center as to how he selected a particular crop of players who were not in form in the Ghana Premier League to represent in a two-legged CHAN qualifying duel against Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso beat Ghana 2-1 in Kumasi to win a 4-3 aggregate on Sunday, August 20, 2017. The morning of 21st August through to the afternoon and beyond had a lot of journalists, pundits and fans go hard on the assistant coach of the Ghana Black Stars in charge of the B team.

The WAFU tournament was a second bite of the cherry for Maxwell Konadu and this time he did take the time to select the in-form striker in the league, Stephen Sarfo. Vincent Atingah was not included in the side which took the trip to Ouagadougou in the first leg of the CHAN qualifier. Atingah was included into the team and has become a mainstay in the side ever since.

Konadu and James Kwesi Appiah did make mistakes in the CHAN qualifiers but Maxwell Konadu being made in charge of the team for the WAFU tournament showed he could get things right the second time. It also meant he did this by keeping the ears on the ground and also accept the views of the media and the fans.

2 There is still quality on the Ghanaian local scene.

One excuse made by Ghana in the CHAN qualifiers is the idea that a number of players who were selected to camp towards the game against Burkina Faso did not make it to the final duel due to a number of players gaining transfers to Europe.

Another perception in the public on the local league is that these players there are not the best of talents in the league. The WAFU tournament was an eye opener to a number of soccer fans in Ghana who obviously do not follow the Ghana Premier League. One thing to actually note is the fact that this side is not a true representation of the best in every position in the Ghana Premier League.

This only shows that more skillful powerful and intelligent players still abound on the shores of Ghana.

The Ghana Premier League needs better organization and packaging.

The Ghana Football Association and Premier League Board will have to by all means sit down going into next season. The FOX WAFU tournament turned out to be a success and incredible TV coverage and branding contributed to that.

Going forward, Star times, the PLB and stakeholders should come together to really plan on making the league a success.

Indeed the packaging and marketing of this tournament has shown that branding and marketing can show Ghana and the world that Ghana football is not as gloomy as everybody thought it was.

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