Zambia came with home based players to the just concluded African Nations' Cup in Angola and almost edged us out of the tournament if not for hard luck. How many players in the Burkina Faso team where professionals? I think a lot of things have actually gone wrong with our team and until these things are corrected our football would not get better.
1. Corruption must stop: The issue of certain players having to settle the authorities for inclusion into the national team has to stop. Apart from that, God-fatherism must also stop. Merit should be the only criterion for justifying one's inclusion in the team. Besides, when players are promised certain amount as match bonuses that same amount should get to them; nothing should be deducted in the name of settlement.
2. Player welfare: The era of abandoning an injured player to his fate must stop. This reminds me; when Michael Essien was injured and was hospitalized in England, President John Kuffour went to visit him in hospital to show him how much the people of Ghana cared about him. In our own case, once a player is injured he is left to take care of himself. Do you think players would put in their best under such situations?
3. Continuity: There should be a deliberate policy put in place to ensure continuity in our national teams. People should be able to graduate from one team to another. They should not be thrown away immediately after achieving a major feat at the junior level.
4. Our local league: I am beginning to see that in the near future our local league would become the rallying point to deliver us from this present stalemate. Players in the globacom premier league should be given recognition; only then would they be motivated to do well and at the same time prevent them from running from the league to look for greener pasture elsewhere. Some even end up in leagues that are not as good as Nigeria's. Coach Clemens Westerhoff succeeded here because he was able to blend the home based and the foreign based players together without anybody having a guaranteed shirt. That promotes a fair and healthy competition in the team and brings out their best performance.
5. Soccer Academies: Develop soccer academies where young talents would be groomed.
6. School sports: Secondary school soccer competitions should be encouraged to discover young talents as well.
7. A good coach: There are nice coaches like Carlo Ancelotti, Josep Guardiola, Guus Hiddink, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Fabio Capello, etc whom we can hire to deliver the goods to us.
8. Training: Regular training, including friendly matches would help put the team in proper shape, promote understanding and make them well prepared for any competition at any given time.
When we do the right things we shall surely get the right results.
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