By Ken Bediako
The Black Stars will for the fifth time be counted among the elite 48 football nations who will compete to decide which nation plays the best football on the planet.
The younger generation lucky to see the Black Stars in the global football fiesta four times since their debut in Germany 2006 may be pardoned to assume it has been all that rosy.
Not at all. It has been really tough and this is the chronicle of events covering the past six decades before the triumphant breakthrough in 2006 to join the elites who have been fighting for supremacy in global football every four years since 1930.
The Black Stars started their quest for World Cup honours as far back as August 28, 1960 with a classic 4-1 victory over Nigeria in the first leg qualifying series for Chile ’62 at the Accra Sports Stadium. It was an almost one sided match and the thick crowd had a lot to cheer about. Prolific scorer Edward Acquah got the curtain raiser and Edward Boateng, Aggrey Fynn and Mohammed Salisu followed before Nigeria had a consolation goal in the dying minutes of the game.
Those who lined up for the Black Stars were Addoquaye Laryea, Ben Simmons, Emmanuel Oblitey, Mama Ankrah, Addo Odametey, Alhaji Tanko, Baba Yara, Edward Acquah, Aggrey Fynn, Edward Boateng and Mohammed Salisu.
The second leg in Lagos on Sept 10 ended in a pulsating 2-2 draw. The man with the sputnik shot, Edward Acquah scored both goals for the Black Stars and Enamabo Fayemi replied for Nigeria. This time round “Magic Hands” Dodoo Ankrah manned the posts for the Black Stars. The rest were Ben Simmons, Emmanuel Oblitey, Mama Ankrah, Addo Odametey, Joe Aikins, Baba Yara, Wilberforce Mfum, Edward Acquah, Aggrey Fynn and Mohammed Salisu. Ghana thus qualified on 6-3 aggregate for the next round against Morocco in Accra on April 2, 1961.
This was another grueling goalless affair. Only two players, centre forward C. K. Gyamfi, and Addo Odametey hit form. The Stars threw away countless chances. Baba Yara made magnificent dashes on the right flank but played below form. The Stars lost the second leg 1-0 in Casablanca on May 28 thus ending the World Cup dream debut. The hero of the day was Aggrey Fynn who won the hearts of the packed stadium. Sports Director Ohene Djan said after the match that he thought the Ghana team played below form “but that is not an alibi. I think the Moroccans deserved their victory,” he added.
Those who wore the Black Stars jerseys were Dodoo Ankrah, Frank Crenstil, Ben Simmons, Addo Odametey, Dogo Moro, Joe Aikins, Ofei Dodoo, Adansi Fofie, Aggrey Fynn, Edward Acquah, and C.K. Gyamfi.
After this disappointing show the Black Stars went on an eight week tour of Europe to sharpen their skills. The tour which started on May 24 and ended on July 20 saw the Stars playing four matches in the Soviet Union, two in Hungary three in East Germany, three in Czechoslovakia, and one in Yugoslavia.
The Stars who made that historic European trip were Dodoo Ankrah, De Graft, Addoquaye Laryea, Frank Crenstil, Ben Simmons, E. O. Oblitey, Addo Odametey, Dogo Moro, Joe Aikins, Baba Yara, Ofei Dodoo, Aggrey Fynn, Edward Acquah, C.K. Gyamfi (player coach) Adansi Fofie, Ben Kusi, Kwame Adarkwa, Samuel Peters, W. K. Mfum and Mohammed Salisu.
Ghana skipped the England 1966 qualifying series when Africa decided a mass boycott but were in action for the Mexico 1970 prelims. Unfortunately the Black Stars could not survive the very first round and were eliminated 3-2 on aggregate by Nigeria, who won the first match 2-1 in Lagos on May 10, 1969. It was another low key performance by the Stars who conceded two goals in two minutes in the second half.
The snag was that the Stars were leading 1-0 at half time through an 18th minute goal by Abeka Ankrah who had received a good pass from Robert Folley. Nigerian substitute Broderick’s powerful shot in the 62nd minute fetched the equalizer. The cheers that greeted the goal had hardly died down when left winger Oshode got the second goal for Nigeria.
Line up for the Black Stars was Robert Mensah, Joe Dakota, Kpapko Allotey, Sam Amarteifio, John Eshun (Capt), Christian Madus, Robert Folley, Jones Attuquayefio, Joe Ghartey, Abeka Ankrah and George Appiah. Side attraction was that the Black Stars wore black arm bands in memory of the death of Baba Yara the king of wingers during the week.
The return match in Accra on May 18, 1969 was 1-1 and veteran goalkeeper Addoquaye Laryea was generally blamed for making things difficult for the Stars, He conceded a cheap goal when the game was only five minutes old and the Black Stars had to fight hard to get the equalizer just before half time through Amusa Gbadamosi who completed a nice move by Robert Folley and Abeka Ankrah.
The qualifiers for Germany 74 saw the Black Stars in a much more improved form. The first match against Benin in Cotonou on June 18 1972 ended in a splendid 5-0 victory for the Black Stars. Powerhouse Kwasi Owusu, Abukari Gariba and Sunday Ibrahim gave the Black Stars a 3-0 lead at half time and Abukari and Kwasi Owusu got a goal each again in the second half to complete the rout.
The return match in Kumasi on July 2 1972 was also a comfortable 5-1 win for the Stars. Wizard dribbler Osei Kofi scored twice in the first half and Kwasi Owusu, Sunday Ibrahim and Clifford Odame (penalty) completed the annihilation. The visitors had a consolation goal in the dying minutes of the game.
With this flying start the Black Stars were full of fight in their next pairing against traditional rivals Nigeria in Lagos on Feb 10 1973 and they shocked Nigeria with a well executed 3-2 win. Nigeria scored first in the 15th minute through Yakubu Mambo and Kwasi Owusu equalised three minutes later with a point blank shot. The Lagos stadium went dead but it resurrected five minutes to recess when Yakubu Mambo restored the lead for Nigeria with an equally brilliant shot.
Kwasi Owusu really found his scoring boots and he brought the scores at par with another bullet shot in the 55th minute. This goal completely put the shine on the Black Stars and they completely eclipsed Nigeria. The hat-trick by Kwasi Owusu in the 82nd minute came as a matter of course. But pandemonium broke out after this goal. Stones and bottles were thrown on the pitch in protest by the home fans as the Black Stars jubilated. Spectators surged on to the pitch.
At this point the Lagos State Military Governor Col Mobolaji Johnson personally led a team of armed personnel to escort the Stars off the pitch. The Nigerian troops had to use teargas to disperse the crowd. In their fury the home fans set ablaze a Ghana State Transport bus that had conveyed supporters of the Black Stars to Nigeria. This incident created a mild diplomatic row between Ghana and Nigeria which was later on amicably settled between the then two military regimes of the two countries.
The tension packed return leg on Feb 25 1973 in Accra ended goalless amidst tight security. The Black Stars played carelessly in this return encounter and people wondered how they could beat Nigeria at home.
A report in the Daily Graphic said top striker Kwasi Owusu who got all three goals in the first match in Lagos this time played as if the offside rule had been scrapped from the Referees chart. On countless occasions he fell so much into the offside trap set by Nigeria that the linesman became an automatic machine, flagging even when Owusu was not offside. Following the tension packed match in Lagos GFA boss Col Bob Kotei was praised for the efficient security mounted at the Stadium that prevented any nasty scenes.
The Black Stars were officially credited with a 2-0 win by FIFA in the Lagos match and the Stars therefore sailed into the next round against Zaire. The Black Stars won the first leg 1-0 in Accra on August 5 1973 but lost heavily 4-1 in the return in Kinshasa on August 19 1973 to say farewell to Germany 74.
The Black Stars were once more in action for the Argentina ’78 qualifiers but this was short-lived. Guinea was responsible for Ghana’s early exit. The Black Stars beat Guinea 2-1 in Accra on Oct 10 1976 and Guinea won the return by the same margin 2-1 in Conakry on Oct 31 thus resulting in a play off on neutral grounds. This took place in Lome, Togo on January 16 1977 and Guinea won 2-0. This early exit definitely disorganised Ghana’s subsequent preparations for the World Cup and it was not surprising that the Black Stars did not play the 1982 Spain qualifiers.
Ghana was however back in action for the Mexico 86 eliminations and this was another quick exit lasting only two rounds The Black Stars drew goalless with Cote d’Ivoire in Abidjan on April 7 1985 and won the return 2-0 in Kumasi on April 25 1985 to set a date with Libya in the next round. The Libyans held the Black Stars to a pulsating goalless draw in Accra on July 14 1985 and convincingly won the return in Benghazi 2-0 on July 26 1985.
The qualifiers for ITALIA 90 saw the Black Stars making another poor effort to shine. The Lone Stars from Liberia stormed Accra on August 7 1988 to hold the Black Stars to a goalless draw and won the return in Monrovia 2-0 on August 21 1988.
USA 94 also did not provide any good story for the Black Stars. Paired in Group A with Algeria, Burundi and Uganda, the Ugandans withdrew from the round robin contest leaving the remaining three to fight for honours. Ghana made a poor start by losing 1-0 to Burundi in Bujumbura on Oct 25 1992. The Black Stars however made amends with a classic 2-0 win over Algeria in Accra on Dec 20 1992. Ghana avenged defeat over Burundi 1-0 in Kumasi on January 31 1993. Algeria however beat the Black Stars 2-1 in Tlemcen, Algiers to top the group with five points as against Ghana’s four. The Algerians had collected three points from Burundi having beaten the East Africans 3-1 at home and drawing 1-1 with them in Bujumbura.
The qualifying series for FRANCE 1998 saw Ghana among 36 African countries that struggled for the five places allotted to Africa instead of the previous three. The Black Stars eliminated Tanzania on 2-1 aggregate in the qualifying series to reach the group stage. The first match in Dar es Salaam on June 8 1996 ended in a goalless draw and Ghana won the return 2-1 in Kumasi on June 17.
The group stages comprised Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gabon and Morocco. In the round-robin contest Ghana made a good start drawing 1-1 with Gabon in Libreville on November 10 1996. The Black Stars however dropped valuable home points by drawing 2-2 with Morocco in Kumasi in the second match on January 12 1997. It was a third draw for the Black Stars when they played 1-1 with Sierra Leone in Freetown on April 5 1997.
The fourth match on April 27 1997 saw the Black Stars in top form as they whipped Gabon 3-0 in Accra but unfortunately they lost their next match 1-0 against Morocco in Casablanca on June 7 1997.
The sixth match against Sierra Leone provided an interesting scenario. Sierra Leone were reluctant to make the trip to Ghana due to financial constraints.
Ghana “the Good Samaritan” offered to help by airlifting the team to Ghana. This was on August 17 1997. The match took place at Obuasi and Ghana apparently expecting favours from Sierra Leone were surprisingly beaten 2-0. This ended Ghana’s World Cup dreams as Morocco with victories over Sierra Leone and Gabon qualified from the group to join Tunisia, Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa for France 98.
The Black Stars once again joined the 50 African countries that entered for Japan/Korea 2002. After dismissing Tanzania 4-2 on aggregate in the qualifying rounds- 1-0 in Dar es Salaam on April 8 2000 and 3-2 in Accra on April 23 2000 Ghana were grouped alongside Nigeria, Liberia, Sudan and Sierra Leone in the elimination series.
The Black Stars started the elimination series on a whirlwind note by thrashing Sierra Leone 5-0 in Accra on July 9 2000 but surprisingly lost at home 3-1 to Liberia on January 18 2001. Ghana suffered another defeat 1-0 at the hands of Sudan in Omdurman on Feb 25 2001.
On March 11 2001 the Black Stars had an opportunity to beat a depleted Nigerian Super Eagles side in Accra but the match ended in a disappointing goalless draw. Coach Jones Attuquayefio took a controversial decision to field a virtual Accra Hearts of Oak side and they did not live up to expectation of the crowd. The Stars continued their drawing spree with yet another draw with Sierra Leone in Freetown on May 5 2001. The worst was yet to come when Ghana lost 2-1 to Liberia in Monrovia on Republic Anniversary Day July 1 2001. There was however small consolation when the Black Stars beat Sudan 1-0 in Accra on July 15 2001 but the euphoria was short-lived as Ghana were thrashed 3-0 by Nigeria in Port Harcourt on July 29 2001 to end a disastrous World Cup campaign.
The Black Stars conceded three first half goals and to make matters worse substitute goalkeeper Osei Boateng was sacked in the 43rd minute and had to be replaced by utility player Emmanuel Osei Kuffuor. Ghana therefore had to play with ten for the entire second half.
Line up James Nanor/Osei Boateng/Osei Kuffuor, Isaac Owusu, Yaw Owusu, Princeton Owusu Ansah, Hamza Mohammed, Mohammed Gargo, Godwin Ablordey, Charles Taylor/Aminu Musa, Kofi Amoako, Fattal Ahmed and Isaac Boakye.
It was to avoid a repetition of this dismal World Cup qualification track record that incensed the nation to put all resources at the disposal of the Black Stars to make qualification for Germany 2006 World Cup such a wonderful reality.
Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.
