The whole of Accra thronged the Accra Sports Stadium to witness a historic landmark by the less-known gaffer, Desmond Offei, and his U-20 charges, as they produced a stellar performance to clinch gold for Ghana.
Ghana’s men’s national teams had experienced a decline in performance, laurels, and genuine commitment, hence the need to go back to the drawing board, re-strategizing the way forward by the president of the Ghana Football Association, Kurt Okraku.
The decision was made for little-known Desmond Offei, who has been tipped by some of the spectators at the stadium on Friday night for the Black Stars job in the future, to take over as head coach, with former Black Stars striker Odartey Lamptey and former Heart of Lions coach Salifu Fuseini as his deputies.
Every player in this Black Satellites squad earned their places by merit, as the fans were marveled at their immense talent.
Not to underrate the performances of other players in the squad, but fans, including myself, the writer, could not stop beaming with smiles, watching Ofori McCarthy and Nana Kwame Boakye marshal the center-back positions, Emmanuel Agyei gracefully distributing passes like an expert, and Abdul Aziz Issah and Abdul Sulemana causing havoc to the Ugandan defensive set-up.
Offei and his technical team exhibited their brilliance by unexpectedly subbing off the tricky and pacy Issah for center forward Aziz Musibau, who looked to have played as a supporting forward to eventual goal scorer, Jerry Afriyie.
Kelvin Nkrumah replaced Suleman with minutes left until the end of the game. The number-seven-shirted Nkrumah dazzled as he seemed to create spaces for his teammates to move in with his movements on and off the ball.
Just before the 90th minute mark, Jerry Afriyie steps up with a low shot past the Ugandan goalkeeper to send the whole country into a frenzy.
The blast of the whistle for full time sent everyone into a jubilant mood. As one could literally feel the stands shaking with the roar of ‘Ole Ole Ole Oleee’, Offei hugged each and every one on his bench for an unforgettable achievement.
Would the head coach indeed become a future Black Stars coach, as a number of fans have begun to believe?
Well, his future performances and achievements would do the talking for him.
Source: Ghana/max.com.gh/Max89.7FM/Michael Mensah Martey/
