GHANA V EGYPT : A WORLD CUP 2014 PLAYOFF QUALIFIER -"UNTESTED DEFENDERS?"

By Frederick Quaye

As a precocious 18 year old defender in 1981, Kwasi Appiah,now Ghana's manager superbly handled the skilful Zairean winger, Mayele Ayele, and blunted his wizardry such that Ghana was able to qualify for the 13th Africa Cup Of Nations in Libya which they eventually won.

That same skill and calm confidence to disable and neutralize forwards,will come in handy when they face Egypt in the penultimate qualifier for Word Cup 2014 in Brazil tomorrow in Kumasi.

Ghana, who are popularly known as the Black Stars, has been hit by an injury epidemic that has effectively sidelined three of her  regular  defenders who played in the World Cup 2010 and the last 2 Africa Cup of Nations .

John Boye, Jonathan Mensah and Isaac Vorsah have all been hit by injuries which will prevent them from featuring for at least two weeks, however the coach Appiah has an answer to naysayers and those who think their substitutes will find it hard to fit in against the Pharaohs on the night.

Drawing from his own personal story of having to lace on the boots for his first full international as an “untested” left full back against a marauding Zaire side who had drawn 2-2 with Ghana in Accra, the Ghana manager has more than enough wisdom to share and instill into Mohammad Awal, Edwin Gyimah and Rachid Sumaila, the replacements for Boye, Mensah and Vorsah.

Says he” 'I have never relied on one particular player, I always believe that as a team you prepare and make sure you have very good substitutes so that when you have issues of players getting injury you can replace them,'' he told Joy Sports

''And if other players had not been given the opportunity and used, it would have been very difficult at this moment. Fortunately for us, we have a very strong group that we can always depend on.''

The same composure and quiet confidence that he now exudes as Black Stars coach are the ones that he has always had as a player and will help his lads tomorrow to achieve a huge victory against 7 time African champions, Egypt whose last visit at the FIFA World Cup was in 1990.

Similarly, when Ghana qualified for Libya in 1982, a new generation with comparatively scant experience had taken over from those who won the 1978 Africa Cup of Nations, so understandably very few gave them a dog’s chance of even qualifying beyond the first round, much more conquering the continent.

With the likes of legendary players like Thomas Nkono of Cameroon, Salah Assad and Rabah Madjer of Algeria, Stephen Keshie of Nigeria among other celebrated names, Ghana indeed presented a sorry pack of untested schoolboys.

Some of the untested players of the make-shift Ghana team who featured were, “Tarkwa Polo”-Opoku Nti, “Zion Train”-John Essien,”Gaddafi”-Sampson Lamptey, George Alhassan, and a then seventeen year old,  you might know-,Abedi Ayew Pele.

At the end of the tournament “make-shift “Ghana ran away with 5 players voted to the CAF Team of the tournament!

So whoever tells me Mohammed Awal, Edwin Gyimah and Rachid Sumaila who have been drafted in to replace regular defenders John Boye, Jonathan Mensah and Isaac Vorsah will not have an excellent day tomorrow, tell them there was no Kwasi Appiah for Ghana in 1981 against Mayele Ayele for Zaire and Ghana never won the 13^th edition of the Africa Cup Of Nations in Libya. Period.