by Patrick Owusu Ansah
This will not be happening in the foreseeable future because the fans, but the football associations and the politicians want immediate results. They reckon that experienced coaches who can deliver instant results are not African! Long-term planning of upgrading local coaches' education and investing of trust in a pool of local coaches appear to be unAfrican qualities. Local coaches are not even allowed the latitude of an occassional blip in form of the team.
Part of the reason why African coaches have not succeeded at the World Cups is because they are handed long and secure tenure in their positions to enable them build cohesive sides that can gell in time for tournaments. The African coach is not trusted. He is viewed as incompetent and incapable. Yet, African coaches have won junior World Cups before.
An African coach has guided a nation to an Olympic football title before. Cameroon's Jean Paul Akono and not Pierre Lechantre was the architect of the Indomitable Lions' triumph at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Ghana's Charles Gyamfi and Egypt's Hassan Shehata have each won the Africa Cup of Nations three times making them the most successful African coaches at the Africa Cup. Ghana’s Sellas Tetteh has also won the U 20 World cup before.
However, this pedigree of African coaches appears not to be enough in the eyes of Africa's football federations. So, the continent will continue to pay an expensive price at serious football tournaments through their highly-paid expatriate coaches who are not only disconnected from their players, but they have little connection with the style and traditions of African football.
It is hard time, African football Associations should start hiring nationals as coaches .We must believe in nationals, because they also know the techniques and tacticality of the game.
No comments:
Post a Comment