The Ghanaian Times congratulates the Black Stars on edging out Nigeria to end their Qatar 22 dream and putting Ghana on the path to Qatar.
Last Monday the Ghanaian Times Editorial was dedicated to soliciting support for the Black Stars.
The headline given to that editorial ‘Give Black Stars massive support to soar’ and a point made that all hope was not lost for the Stars have proven prophesy come true.
That editorial chronicled how the support for the Stars waned and appealed to Ghanaians to ignore the pains the national team and officials had caused them and support the Stars to soar.
By way of a reminder, a portion of Monday’s editorial is reproduced below to prove the hope the Ghanaian Times expressed:
“The Ghanaian Times shares the pains of Ghanaians but wishes to appeal to them that the situation is not a hopeless one, especially viewed against the performance of the Black Stars on Friday.
Anyone conversant with Ghana-Nigeria matches would agree that they are like the finals of any tournament involving the two West African neighbours; it can be anyone’s game in spite of where the matches are played.
Even though it was a goalless draw game [in Kumasi], all hope is not lost and the Nigerians themselves know this, so they can employ all means possible to try and shortchange the Black Stars.
Ahead of the game, the players and Black Stars officials must note this and psyche themselves up that they would not allow such situations to take the better side of them to go beyond bounds to incur the displeasure of the referee like a Nigerian player did over a penalty and got a yellow card.
But while there are signs that there is a new Black Stars team whose players are prepared to sacrifice to bring back the old glory, what is lacking is the massive support from Ghanaians.
Without that support, there is not that spirit to fire up in the players the enthusiasm to expend all their energies on putting the smiles on the faces of Ghanaians.
The Stars need the massive support of old in Nigeria and this must be demonstrated to the surprise of the whole of Nigeria to tell the Nigerians that it is not yet a done deal for them.
Even though the return match in Nigeria can be for either side, Black Stars can win in Nigeria once there is fair play, which is why all Ghanaians must be behind their once cherished team for the Stars to soar.
…. Therefore, let Ghanaians give the Black Stars the needed support to face the Nigerians with invincible energies.”
The Black Stars, though did not perform to the excellent level exhibited in Kumasi, their exploits in Abuja can still be described as heroic, particularly for not allowing the Nigerian intimidation to weigh them down.
Their early goal and the comportment they showed after the Nigeria equaliser were good acts that must be nurtured.
The Black Stars players and handlers must henceforth nurture the propensity to score early goals and get their opponents ruffled.
Now that Black Stars have brought back the smiles on the faces of Ghanaians, the Ghanaian Times believes the support for them would grow by day and become massive by the time they get to Qatar for the tournament that runs from Monday, November 21 till Sunday, December 18, 2022.
It is now time for preparation for Qatar and anything that would mar it such as unnecessary criticisms, especially from the so-called sports commentators must be avoided.
Some of them did not give the Stars a dog’s chance; at this time they are licking their wounds, a lesson to all such people that they should critique and eventually offer workable suggestions.
The government, the team, its handlers and all stakeholders must do the needful, all aimed at Ghana going to shine in Qatar.
The Ghanaian Times once again congratulates the Black Stars players, the handlers, the supporters who never failed to give the cheers, the government, all the stakeholders like sponsors and, of course, all Ghanaians on Ghana’s qualification to Qatar.
Congratulations!!!
