The support for the Black Stars grew beyond everyone’s imagination when the Stars, for the first in their history, won a slot for the FIFA World Cup played in 2006 (Germany 2006), held from June 9 to July 9, 2006.
The massive support was so much visible in the run-up to, during the tournament and even after the Black Stars had been out in the second round, as a good number of Ghanaians continued to wear Black Stars t-shirts and bundles, while others displayed the flag on their vehicles.
Such massive support was repeated in 2010 when Black Stars won a slot to South Africa, where they chalked up the honour of becoming the third African team to reach the World Cup quarter-finals after Cameroon in Italy in 1990 and Senegal in 2002 at the tournament jointly hosted by South Korea and Japan.
Ghanaians’ only pain at that tournament was Asamoah Gyan’s failure to convert a penalty against Uruguay occasioned by Uruguay’s Suarez.
In 2014 the Black Stars won their third consecutive World Cup slot to go to Brazil and the support during the run-up to the tournament was massive as well until an altercation between players and team officials over appearance fees, which forced the government to airlift $3million from Accra to Brazil to douse the fire.
The support for the Stars waned from that point and the situation worsened when it came out at a Committee of Enquiry that some expenses made by the team officials and some political appointees connected to Ghana’s participation in Brazil 2014 were uncalled-for and in bad taste.
It can be said that ever since, Ghanaians in general have withheld that massive support for the Black Stars for what they see as poor performance of the players due to their unpatriotic and egoistic behaviour, coupled with shady expenses and the “co-efficient” manner in which team officials shared some monies without any sanction against them.
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, 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.
As for issues about the money, it must be noted that when the Black Stars qualify, FIFA would give them money, a fraction of which would be used to pay for the appearance fees and would be given more money as they progress from stage to stage.
What is important is to qualify and then ask for how the money from FIFA and the government is expended.
Therefore, let Ghanaians give the Black Stars the needed support to face the Nigerians with invincible energies.
