The close-up shots of the man on SuperSport’s live TV coverage suggested he was a bit tense. Maybe anxious. Maybe nervous.
Otto Addo did not stutter during the three minutes and thirty-five seconds when he named the 26-man squad for the World Cup. But in the six-and-a-half-minute monologue that followed, he did. It was an explanation about the broad thinking behind the call-ups, without getting into specifics.
Here – and in the question-and-answer segment for the media – the nervous looks, the shiftiness and the tense uhm-uhms continued.
After the announcement, he walked to the media zone created for the gathered press. Otto was noticeably calmer. And before he left the DStv Ghana Head Office in Accra, where this national announcement was made, Otto was sidled by the team from local broadcaster, JoyNews. First question was whether he had been OK in there?
“Why would I not be?” the 47-year asked. “What happened in there,” he gestured, pointing to the auditorium, “was not a problem at all. The worst is over.”
Asked for specifics, he said: “Calling some of the players personally to tell them that they could not make it – that was the hard part. The stuff that has happened afterwards is normal.”
Looks like the rumours were true then.
MARGINAL CALLS
Indeed, Addo confirmed at the tail end of the presser that certain players had missed the plane to Qatar by margins.
“This is what I wanted to tell [the people of Ghana] just to bring a little bit of insight about our decisions, which were tight, yes, in certain positions and hope everybody will understand a little bit more on how we put the team together.”
The biggest debate in the past week has been about Jeffery Schlupp, an uber-consistent defender-cum-midfielder at Crystal Palace. Pound for pound, there are few, if any, better Ghanaian players anywhere in the world than he is. Yet, he could not make it. Benedict Mensah, a journalist from local station Asempa FM attempted to ask why the player could not make it – in addition to Joseph Paintsil of Genk in Belgium.
Otto demurred.
“I do not want to discuss individual players here. I’ve been a player before, and all I will say is that all those who had a chance but could not make the squad know why. I have called them and we have spoken.”
That was a smart answer, for any attempt to explain why one player could not get in the squad would have opened the floodgates. Instead, the coach will explain later that his decisions had been based on many factors.
“There are criteria on the pitch and off the pitch. On-the-pitch criteria are obviously No 1 – things like readiness and willingness to play for the Black Stars, whenever you are called,” he said, in what seemed like a direct barb to Schlupp, who has long declined Ghana call-ups because of a feeling that the team’s handlers take short-cuts.
Baba Iddrisu, who would have definitely been in the list, tragically did his hamstring last Wednesday in Mallorca’s last league game. With reports saying he needed only seven days of rest to feel better, Ghana’s technical team – not wanting to risk having a player whose health they could not be sure of – opted to drop him and take just two defensive midfielders to Qatar.
Rotten, rotten misfortune.
LARGELY THE BEST AROUND
But for these few examples, and perhaps one or two others, the general reaction to Monday’s squad announcement was positive. “It is not like Ghana has a lot of options in every position to debate about,” says veteran journalist Aristo Dotse. He does have a point.
In goal, a double-dose of bad luck have hit Ghana’s first- and second-choice goalkeepers within the last week. Joe Wallocott’s World Cup was confirmed over on Saturday evening when Charlton doctors reached out to the Ghana FA that his fractured finger was worse than anticipated. The injury had been sustained shortly before the last game before the World Cup break.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, MRI scans done on Richard Ofori show that a fluid build-up in his knee mean he cannot be counted on until the end of December, at least. SuperSport understands that the South Africa-based goalie has been playing through the pain barrier for the last month, and a recent aggravation compounded the situation.
And so, suddenly, three largely untested goalkeepers will be vying to man the posts against Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay.
Lawrence Ati-Zigi, the first name Otto mentioned in his squad reveal on Monday, is one. Easily the most unpopular Black Stars goalkeeper at the moment, he is decent when playing for his club, St Gallen. But, when the 25-year-old has donned the national colours, he has rarely had a good game in 10 caps.
This season, he’s conceded 21 goals in 14 club games, plus one yellow and a red card. What is problematic is that the bad press he gets back home seems to affect his confidence, making him error-prone.
Abdul Manaf Nurudeen has had little playing time for his Belgian club, KAS Eupen, and he’s also barely tested in national colours. What he does have is a reputation as a shot-stopper, following his heroics when nine-man Ghana took Chile to penalties, and won, in June.
Ibrahim Danlad, who plays for Ghana Premier League champions Asante Kotoko, is the third goalie. A very popular keeper on the local scene, he has been first-choice at national U17, U20 and U23 teams. There is a feeling that it is just a matter of time before he becomes Ghana’s senior team first choice. But will this World Cup be it?
YOUTH VS EXPERIENCE
Depending on how you judge football, Addo’s decision to name a squad that has only two players with previous World Cup experience – André and Jordan Ayew – may be calculated genius or crazy cajónes.
“I’m humble enough to know we can lose against any team, but I am confident enough to know we can win against every team,” he philosophically said.
Alan Hansen famously said that you win nothing with kids. Nobody in Ghana believes the Black Stars are going to win the trophy, but three previous World Cup showings (especially in 2006 and 2010) suggest that a healthy mix of youth and experience does the trick.
This team’s average age is 24.96, same as the 2014 squad; the 2006 and 2010 teams both averaged 23 years, 352 days.
As Addo, with his trademark hunched walk, left the venue of the announcement, he said five simple words to the security personnel who screamed his name and asked if Ghana will do well.
“We will try our best.”
Ghana’s Final Squad
Goalkeepers: Lawrence Ati-Zigi, Abdul Manaf Nurudeen and Ibrahim Danlad.
Defenders: Baba Rahman, Daniel Amartey, Alexander Djiku, Joseph Aidoo, Gideon Mensah, Denis Odoi, Alidu Seidu, Mohammed Salisu y Tariq Lamptey.
Midfielders: André Ayew, Thomas Partey, Mohammed Kudus, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh, Elisha Owusu, Daniel Afriyie and Salis Abdul Samed.
Forwards: Jordan Ayew; Kamaldeen Sulemana, Adbul Fatawu Issahaku, Osman Bukari, Iñaki Williams; Antoine Semenyo and Kamal Sowah.