We are all happy seeing Morocco achieving this feat right? Well, this is what we have to bear in mind as Ghanaians: You cannot just get up and say you want to do something monumental without proper planning. There are a lot of things we have to do as a country in order for us to achieve what we think we should be achieving (winning Afcons and doing well at the world stage). Stakeholders must know when, where and how to play their part in this.GOVERNMENTThe state must ensure that, we have proper infrastructure in place to help nurture talents. Gone are the days when we solely relied on talents alone. Ghana as a country is full of talents but how can we make the talents useful to the nation? We cannot consistently be chasing players to come and play for us. I am not against that; besides those players from the diaspora are equally Ghanaians, hence they also deserve to be considered for national team call-ups. But my question is, how long should we continue doing this, knowing very well that, with a little effort from the government, in terms of building infrastructure, we can also be self-sufficient when it comes developing and producing players for our the various national teams?The state must invest in our local football, precisely the league. In countries like Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Tanzania etc, their clubs are enjoying massive support from their various governments and, as a result, clubs are able to pay their players well and even go to the extent of hiring top-class coaches for the development of their players, which is directly having an impact on their national teams.An example is what we’re seeing from Morocco. Egypt has been a beneficiary of this, which helped them to rule African football at club and national level.Today, the Moroccan Botola league can boast of three players who are part of the Moroccan national team in Qatar for the World Cup, including Yahia Attiyat Allal who even provided an assist in their win against Portugal, Reda Ahmed Tengnouti and Yahaya Jebrane – all of whom ply their trade in Morocco for Wydad Casablanca.What this also means is that, Wydad, that owns the players would be earning $900k from FIFA and this money is going to help Wydad in many ways. Ministers appointed by the government to lead the sports ministry should have this in mind: don’t allow yourself to be used by some media men to fight the football people. It doesn’t in anyway help to improve our game. Same way don’t be too soft for the football people to also ride over you. There must be a cordial relationship between the two, the attention should not be on the Black Stars alone. Clubs and the local league must be a huge beneficiary of the sports ministry/minister. When our league is growing well, the Black Stars can be a self-sufficient when it comes to sponsorships.Those six aside pitches we have been constructing in our various communities must be reviewed again. It does not serve any good purpose just that it has been constructed. It must be a FIFA-standard pitch so that grassroots football in our various communities can benefit.Walid Regragui is a beneficiary of the coaching clinics and courses Faudzi Lekjaa has been doing for the Moroccan coaches in collaboration with the Moroccan government who is supporting the football federation in every way.To the FAIt should not be a ‘win win’ situation alone at least, people outside your campaign team must be consulted for ideas. That is what an all-inclusive government is, as we may put it.Dr Nduom with his experience and expertise in governance had an appointment from the then president Kufuor to serve under his administration, which he did well. Kofi Manu (Blue Boy) was against Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi’s administration. In fact, he went to the extent of defending Catholic Stars against Wa All stars, now Legon cities, which was owned by Mr Nyantakyi at the law court, yet he (Kofi Manu) later found himself serving under Mr Nyantakyi’s administration.
credit : Emmanuel Odoom
