Essays
FOOTBALL VRS HEARTBALL |
| Posted by Kwaku Sakyi-Addo (admin) on Mar 03 2010 |
I ran into Samuel Inkoom the other day at the airport in Kumasi, you know the Black Stars full back. What a featherweight he is! It was hard to believe how bravely this child (never mind that he’s married and has a child himself!) matched the strapping brawns of Nigerians Yakubu and Shittu who, I suspect, were assembled by God to tackle Maoris with 22-inch necks in Rugby scrums.
One of Time magazine’s January editions carries an extremely illustrative photo of Inkoom versus Didier Drogba in a mid-air scramble for the ball. It was a mismatch in favour of the six-foot-one Ivorian. But we know which of the two made it to the finals of the Cup of African Nations.
For me, the star of the Black Stars was Kwadwo Asamoah. He’s clearly the next Michael Essien and more. Which brings me to the point of this piece.
The Team B boys, clearly, weren’t playing football; they played heartball. They gave each game their Soul. Indeed, critics of Team A say despite their far greater experience, the likes of Essien, Muntari et al don’t always give the national team as much as they give their clubs. They’re accused of being arrogant and having grown wings on the back of their million-dollar pay-cheques.
I have a different view though. Look, I hold nothing against Essien and Muntari for dodging the friendly against Angola. In fact, I fully understand why they might put a higher premium on their club games than those of the Nations Cup. Let’s face it: the European leagues are much bigger platforms than the Cup of African Nations! Winning the Premier League, Serie A or the European Championships means more than winning the Cup of African Nations.
I mean, can you answer this question: which country won the South American Cup in 2009? God bless you if you can give the correct answer without a quick visit to Google. Not many people outside South America know it, yet it involved the likes of Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. However, I’ve no doubt that if you have but a passing interest in football, you know who won the English Premier and Italian Leagues, and all the dots and crosses of the dramatic finale of the 2008 European Championships in Moscow, or 2009 in Rome. The Cup of African Nations is a big deal for Africans and expatriate scouts. That’s it!
Therefore if I was a 100,000-dollar/week predator in a European league, and had to choose between a delicate fixture against Man U or Real Madrid, and a group F Nations game against Tanzania, me, I would choose the former. I would hate to have my knees utterly splintered and my anterior ligaments (whatever they are!) shredded by a second-and-half division, part-time tackler from M-M-M-Mwanza, whose exposure to the game is limited to evening action on his way home from herding goats. I mean, p-leease! (Ok, I’m exaggerating but you get my drift!)
You see, Inkoom and others want to be where Essien and Muntari are, and they’re smart enough to recognize the Cup of African Nations, their biggest stage at this point, as the platform on which to showcase their talent to the scouts.
In six to eight years, when they’ve attained fame in Europe and are salaried in the millions of dollars and are striving to win the European Clubs Championship, and they have two games coming up, one in their club shirt against Barca and the other a friendly in the Ghana shirt against Chad, which will they flee from?
But guess what, Ghana will have good news still: there’ll be a new crop of youngsters ready to play heartball in the country’s shirt so that they can also take the place of Inkoom & others, never mind that their opponents are a bunch of knock-kneed no-hopers from Bangui.
This is true of all of us. The itinerant hawker dreams to vend on her own table one day. A year ago her greatest desire was to come to the city and hawk her heart out. Once she’s conquered the table-top, her goal shifts to a colourful kiosk just like the one owned by the bitch who’s just had a baby with the man she had wanted. But the bitch’s real goal in life is to own a chain of supermarkets she’ll name after the man of her true dreams… if only she could lay her long hands on him!
Trophies, whether in the form of a dream car or job, once we’ve conquered them we adjust our horizons and chase after new and higher peaks. We all move on. If you’re not moving on, you’re taking up space and slowing down the line.
(I beg where are the bright national colours in the Black Stars out fit? Come on, Kwasi!)
Last changed: Mar 03 2010 at 6:13 AM
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| FOOTBALL VRS HEARBALL | By Unknown on Mar 06 2010 at 10:09 AM |
| Masterpiece, as always. The man who thinks with his pen, keep it up. Right now in the UK, Essien is getting all the headlines for getting crutiate ligament, hamstring ... anteria or antenatal... whatever, for playing in Africa, and I will not blame him if the the TRAIN as Mourhino described him will ever play for Ghana again after South Africa. There are at least a dozen young Ghanaian lads in europe who have naturalised, or by birth, playing very well for clubs and are not keen to do so for .... (Mother) Ghana well is she a mother? But sometimes, I believe, that a little help, here and there could also help the big stars because, sometimes when you talk to people, what they ask is how come He is not in the national team? Everybody knows how these super millionaires will die to play for their nation, the England players ... THREE LIONS they call them, and I believe the media has a big Roll to PLAY Thank you Richard Amoah, London UK richkamoah@yahoo.co.uk |
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| This is true | By Unknown on Mar 06 2010 at 1:30 PM |
| Kwaku has given a very objective analysis of the predicament that the three Black Star players found themselves in. Ghanaians as usual were too quick to condemn them for their `"unpatriotism" which was arguable. Even people who should have known better join the condemnantion chorus and as friend always put, "Ghanaians can either make one a Saint or Devil within minutes especially if that person looses their favour". Ghana needs a lot of Sakyi-Addos to write objectively thus exposing the hypocrites. Victor Bosie-Boateng Copenhagen, Denmark |
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| masterpiece | By Unknown on Mar 06 2010 at 1:57 PM |
| this piece is mmmwahhhh..keep it up ´´bra´kwaku | |
| Lets all be objective | By Unknown on Mar 31 2010 at 8:32 AM |
| Hi Kwaku, i have read your piece and the comments and i think yours is always a great piece. i however have another perspective to the comment that our so called stars have become arrogant. i think people's indignation towards our stars' stem from the fact that the nation Ghana gave them the platform to showcase their talents at the U-17 and U-20 levels, from where they were attracted to their European clubs where they are making their millions. it is therefore disheartening to a lot of Ghanaians to see those that the nation gave the platform for exposure, turn their backs on it when they are needed. The Confederation of African Football(CAF), has also harmonised their calender to that FIFA, so that dates for international matches, declared by FIFA, are taken advantage of all over the world,since club games will be on recess. Therefore there is never the case that International fixtures conflict with club games, to put players in the awkward position of choosing one over the other. Our former players Abedi Pele, Tony Yeboah, Tony Baffoe etc etc suffered during their time with the national team because CAF hadn't harmonised the calender then, and therefore they had the difficult choice of choosing between club and country These days that conflict is not there, except for the timinig of the Nations Cup, which is another matter all together. it is even an offence, under FIFA rules, to be released by your club for international duty and refuse to play. That is why when Essien refused to travel to Angola to play in that friendly, and rushed to London earlier than expected to play against Arsenal, Arsene Wenger reported Chelsea to the FA for breach of the FIFA rules. That matter is still pending, awaiting determination. Thanks and please write more frequently Best Regards Michael Adjei-Djan aka GLOVUS Accra |
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| Kojo | By Unknown on May 13 2011 at 11:50 AM |
| ...and so you've moved up! God bless, more exploits in you new found career! | |
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