By Ken Bediako
It’s exactly 62 years this week (Dec 3 to be precise) when the Black Stars won the African Cup for the first time with a classic 3-0 victory over Sudan in the final at Accra Stadium.
The Stars had gone through a hectic group matches against Tunisia and Ethiopia.
Ghana drew1-1 with Tunisia in the opening match where Wilberforce Mfum tore the net with a bullet shot to give Ghana the lead that was cancelled by Tunisia before half time. The Stars however beat Ethiopia 2-0 to qualify for the final against Sudan which had topped the Kumasi group comprising Egypt and Nigeria.
In his autobiography published a couple of years ago C. K. Gyamfi the national coach tells the story of the Black Stars maiden Afcon triumph.
“When we came up against the Sudanese we knew we had our destiny in our own hands. We were just 90 minutes away from getting our hands on the holy grail we so badly craved right from the onset we plunged into attack in an attempt to get an early goal to settle our jittery nerves but we were left trailing from the resilience of our opponents. As the goal continued to elude us our nervousness increased.
The first half ended and the Sudanese had successfully kept us at bay.
Early in the second half amidst our long labour for an opener I injected some life into our attack with a substitution. I brought on Ofei Dodoo to replace Leonard Acquah who turned out to be a game changer. Dodoo stole the show from the right wing ploughing through the Sudanese defence while combining telepathically with the TUC Giants Acquah and Mfum. This was the same Ofei Dodoo who was easily bullied during my time at Hearts of Oak. He was now a grown man giving the defenders a good run for their money.
Just 17 minutes into the second half a typical Dodoo-Acquah-Mfum onslaught brought results as it caused one of the Sudanese players to handle the ball in the box. Referee Hedi Ben Abdelkader blew for a penalty. Our captain Aggrey Fynn stepped up. He struck a low shot past Sudanese keeper Eid Saabi Dudu to score a goal that not only gave us a lead but a liberation.
After that liberation we needed another goal for a proper celebration because the Sudanese were not in the mood to cooperate with our agenda. Our next step killed the game off in the 72nd minute we found an assassin to deliver the killer blow, the lethal Edward Acquah assisted by Ofei Dodoo. In fact, there were two blows within ten minutes 72nd and 82nd minutes.
The game thus ended 3-0. Finally we were the champions of Africa.
Aggrey Fynn led his team mates to receive the trophy named after Abdelaziz Abdellah Salem the first President of CAF. I remember the colourful backdrop of jubilant Ghanaians from all walks of life. I remember the national pride.
I was overwhelmed with emotion not only the Black Stars had reached the top but also because that triumph testified to how far I had come as a national coach. Within two years the Black Stars had won all three of the major tournaments we had participated in the Uhuru Cup, the Nkrumah Gold Cup and the Africa Cup. As a tournament in which countries engage expert coaches from the likes of Brazil, Bulgaria and France, a 33-year-old Ghanaian coach busted the myth that local coaches were not equipped to compete at top levels. Nkrumah always made us believe that it was possible for us to get to the top on our own and that the Black African was capable of managing his own affairs with success. This belief played out in living colour at that African Cup.
Witnessing Ofei Dodoo take hold of the game from the right wing brought back memories of the man who in his prime owned that side of the pitch like no other.
We called this man ‘King of Wingers’ aka Osman Seidu aka Baba Yara. Baba our own Stanley Matthews should have been on the pitch that day.
In March 1963 a few months before the Afcon a contingent of Republikans, the club Baba Yara played for were on their way back to Accra from a league game at Kpandu in the Volta Region when they had a motor accident at Kpeve.
The players and officials of the team were injured to various degrees.
As fate would have it, poor Baba Yara suffered the worst of them all a spinal injury.
Of all things he lost the use of his legs.
Baba Yara disappeared from the wings.
All attempts to get him rehabilitated including a trip to the UK for specialist medication at the Stoke Maneville Specialist Hospital and many other traditional medicine failed.
There were times when we could go to his home after training session to keep him company and let him know that he wasn’t alone,” End of story. No
Wonder the sages say “such is life”.
Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.
