Hon Kwadwo Baah Agyemang, Former MP for Asante Akyem North and Former Board Chairman, National Sports Authority (NSA).
In football, a coach’s role is critical to a team’s success, influencing everything from motivation to tactics. While an excellent coach can lead a team to victory, an ineffective one can lead to disastrous performance.
Although Ghana leads its 2026 World Cup qualifying CAF Group I with 19 points from 8 matches, many Ghanaian football fans are far from enthusiastic about the team’s on-field performance.
Tactical and Managerial Shortcomings
Having followed the game for decades, it’s clear to me that poor game planning is a major factor affecting the team’s performance.
After observing the head coach manage over 16 games, one can conclude that the team consistently fails to adapt its tactics to the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.
The team often cedes possession and is pinned back in its own half, only to resort to launching long, aimless balls forward when they do win the ball back.
This lack of strategic foresight raises the question of whether this is the intended game plan or if the coach is simply tactically bankrupt.
The subpar performance of the Black Stars under Coach Otto Addo can be attributed to several factors:
Ineffective Player Management: Players are often used out of their natural positions, preventing the team from making the most of their skills and talents.
Poor Substitutions: The coach often makes untimely or wasteful substitutions, failing to address player fatigue or shifts in the game’s momentum.
Low Team Morale: The team shows a clear lack of morale, and there’s a visible sense of dissatisfaction and resentment among players, which is evident in their on-field performance.
This is a stark contrast to the team that featured in the 2006 World Cup, where Otto Addo himself was a player, and the masterclass team that reached the quarter-finals in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, a run that would have made history had it not been for Luis Suarez’s infamous handball.
This current team’s struggles have led to a shameful series of results, including losses and a failure to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON)—a tournament where the Black Stars have historically been a permanent fixture.
This poor team performance is also a consequence of employing a coach who lacks the confidence to guide a team that desperately needs sound tactics, morale, and strong leadership.
It’s difficult to watch the team play with any sense of comfort or confidence that they will win until the final whistle blows.
We should be building on our past glories, yet we lack the technical foundation to compete with confidence, even against smaller African nations like Comoros, who have now turned Ghana into their “whipping boys.”
A Call for Change
To avoid further decline, the Ghana Football Association must hire an experienced coach with a proven track record of success and a deep understanding of the modern game, regardless of the cost.
As the saying goes, “Every good and perfect thing has a price.” When the nation wanted to implement Free SHS (Senior High School), we paid the price by investing heavily in it.
Similarly, if we want to not only qualify for the World Cup but also perform at the highest level, we must invest in a quality coach.
The new coach should be open to a new dispensation of the game, accept constructive criticism, and work toward the broader purpose of winning, playing good football, and achieving success with the Black Stars.
The country should set clear goals and expectations for whoever is appointed, complete with performance metrics to ensure accountability. These goals should be regularly evaluated to determine the coach’s effectiveness.
Based on the current points and games, Ghana can still qualify for the tournament.
However, to avoid a disastrous and disgraceful performance at the World Cup, the nation should terminate Otto Addo’s contract and appoint a more effective coach to help the Black Stars achieve success both on and off the pitch.
Authored by:
Hon. Kwadwo Baah Agyemang
Former Youth, Sports, and Culture Committee Member of Ghana’s Parliament
Former Board Chairman of the National Sports Authority
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com/ Michael Ofosu-Afriyie Afriyie.
