Kuffour's frustrations with officialdom

Sammy finds things easier in the colours of Bayern

Ghana is one of two countries - the other being Egypt - that have won the African Nations Cup on four different occasions. But the Black Stars haven't made a single appearance at the World Cup. It is one of the mysteries of the African game.

But when I met Bayern's central defender, Sammy Osei Kuffour, at his home in Munich last December, he attempts to unravel the puzzle. "Everything (the Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup qualifying series) went haywire, due to bad organisation. The coach (Italian, Giuseppe Dossena) was sacked because some people did not like him. And everything collapsed after that. It's a great shame. If Dossena had been allowed to continue, I am sure that we would have made it to the World Cup" he insists.

The sacking of Dossena threw the Black Stars into a crisis that threatens to make the impending Nations Cup campaign in Mali another chapter in a twenty-year old book of dashed hopes.

After their 1982 triumph in Libya, the Black Stars have come close to winning the African title on just one occasion - in 1992, when the absence of the talismanic Abedi "Pele" Ayew reduced a fearsome side to a shadow of itself. Cote D'Ivoire's victory over Ghana in a lacklustre final in Dakar, Senegal was a tournament anticlimax.

Kuffour makes no bones about the culprit responsible for the sorry state of affairs at home.

"Ghana? (Sammy pauses and laughs) I'm sorry...We have a lot of problems. Our biggest one is management (The Ghanaian FA). The players do the best for the nation but when you don't win, the fans would have no qualms about abusing your mother if she's walking on the street. And it would kill me if anyone insulted my mum.

"I want the best for my nation. But if we don't have the facilities to prepare for games, how can we qualify for the World Cup or win the Cup of Nations?" he wonders.

Sammy, describing himself as a "man of justice" who will continue to speak the truth, no matter whose ox is gored, says he'll continue pointing out the problems that bedevil Ghanaian football. The GFA's recent decision to strip Charles "CK" Akonnor of the captaincy, as well as drop him from the Nations Cup squad - via the international media - is a prime example.

"I'm very unhappy with the terrible way that Charles was treated. I'm especially disappointed with Abedi Pele (currently a GFA member) Akonnor is our leader and we need him. Are they saying that Charles' international career is over or what? He's just 27.

"There is a better way that they could have done it, rather than humiliate him (Akonnor). I believe that the decision to drop him was not the sole decision of Fred Osam Duodu (the manager). There are some hidden forces behind it" Kuffour fumes.

A house clearly divided cannot stand united. It looks like Ghana's Malian adventure will be another sad chapter in their book of woe. But in the strange but wonderful world of African soccer, who can be so sure? Perhaps there is method to the GFA's madness... (If you believe that, you'll believe anything!)

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