Article: Local coaches must wake up.

I am highly disappointed at the entire management and players of the Black

Meteors for failing to qualify Ghana  for the London  2012 Olympic Games after losing 1-2 on aggregate to the Sudanese in the penultimate qualifier last Saturday.

We were all witnesses when the Ex-Black Stars coach Milovan Rajevac took the local

Black Stars to the maiden edition of the CHAN tournament and won silver

after losing 3-0 to the DR Congo in the grand finale.

During the second edition of the Championship for Africa Nations (CHAN) held in Sudan, the local Black Stars failed miserably and could not even go past the first round.

Just last Saturday in Sudan, the whole nation was painted with sadness after

the Black Meteors of Ghana failed to pick a ticket to the London Olympic 2012 Games. 

This seems to be a repeat of the 2008 qualifiers when Jones Attuquaefio also failed to qualify Ghana for the Beijing Olympics.

Against the backdrop of the poor showing by our local coaches lately, i wish to suggest the following solutions to the problem.

First, I think the GFA with other sports shareholders should take a second look

at the development of juvenile football  in the regions. In other words,

they should mandate the premier clubs to have their own academies.

Secondly, there should be a gradual promotion of national team players from under-17 to say, under-20 and so on, unless in special cases where a player is gifted to warrant his elevation from, say the under-17 to the Black Stars.

 On the issue of CHAN competition, i would suggest that players who have

distinguished themselves in their respective clubs for at least three to five seasons

should gain call-ups to the national teams.

Finally, on our coaches, i wish to suggest that regular refresher courses should be organized for them as well as get them attached to top European Clubs. For now though, they lack what it takes to handle any of the national teams.

I believe that when this is done, Ghana will continue to win more laurels

not only in football but in other sporting disciplines.

Name: Ebenezer Zor

Email: zorebenezer@gmail.com

Source: Graphic Sports