The New Black Stars Coach 

News Commentary On The New Black Stars Coach 

Avram Grant today assumed his new portfolio as Black Stars Coach. The short but impressive ceremony to outdoor him, attracted all those who matters in football and lovers of soccer. Avram Grant`s appointment became necessary after the Black Stars poor showing in the 2014 World Cup which was marred with a lot of controversies leading to the establishment of the Presidential Commission of enquiry to find out what went wrong. Again the Ghana Football Association`s decision to dispense off the services of Coach Kwasi Appiah necessitated the coming in of Avram Grant. Avram Grant, a Hebrew started his coaching career in 1972, as a youth coach and managed to go through difficult times to coach clubs like Chelsea in 2008, where he led them to place second in the top flight of English Football. He is also the first Israeli to manage an English Club. Avram Grant led Chelsea to the finals of the UEFA Champions league in 2008/2009 but lost to Manchester United. 

Avram Grant has chalked up a lot of successes in his coaching career. But, the questions being asked by soccer lovers are; what is he coming to do differently? Can he replicate his successes in the club side to the national team? And can he win the AFCON next year? The 2015 AFCON in Equatorial Guinea will be the Israeli`s first task to show to Ghanaians that he has the acumen to bring laurels to Ghana. FA President Kwasi Nyantekyi has said, Avram Grant is not mandated to win the 2015 AFCON in Equatorial Guinea, since he is yet to study and know the team and the players who will fit into his style. However, soccer fans across the country think otherwise. The desperate soccer fans want to see the Black Stars lift up the Africa Cup for the first time in 32 years, hence, the pressure on Grant to deliver. Avram Grant has six weeks to prepare the team for the AFCON. Ghana is in Group C paired with Senegal, South African and Algeria and therefore he cannot afford to do things wishy-washy. Ghana`s best showing after lifting the AFCON in 1982 was in Senegal in 1992 when the stars reached the finals and repeated that same feat in 2010 in Angola. 

Avram Grant has the herculean task of forming his team, settling on who will be his first choice goalkeeper and a little work in the midfield where influential Kwadwo Asamoah will be missing due to injury. It would have been prudent for Coach Maxwell Konadu who qualified Ghana to have led the team to the AFCON than bringing in somebody who is yet to study the terrain of African football. Again all the AFCON that Ghana has won, achieved those feats with black coaches. Nevertheless, all Ghanaians want is for Avram Grant to win Ghana the AFCON 2015 and now is the time. The clock is ticking.

BY: PRINCE PEACE ESSUMAN, A JOURNALIST.