Damba: Local coaches still have opportunity to handle Black Stars

Former Black Stars goalkeeper Abukari Damba has shot down suggestions that the performance of new Black Stars’ coach Milovan Rajevac, has all but shut the door on localcoaches taking up the mantle anytime soon.

Many soccer fans have called former Black Stars coach C.K Akonnor’s performance at the helm of affairs as a bad advertisement for local coaches, putting away any chance of them fully handling the Black Stars in a very long while.

But Damba believes those assertions are opinions and “would always remain opinions.”

Damba, who was between the sticks for the Black Stars from 1984 to 1994, in a chat with Times Sports disagreed with all those making such assertions.

“I strongly disagree on this subject matter. Akonnor is an individual and was given a job and he came to do his best. We have other individuals in the country of course who are still bidding their time, still performing and it is about the opportunity and when the opportunity is given, you should have a style and ambition.”

According to him, it is about the individual, so he does not think Akonnor can be used as a yardstick to measure Ghanaian coaches.

“What would happen is that Ghanaians coaches would keep building their capacity, but the fact of the matter is we need to deliver, football is not about colour, ethnicity, religion, or where one is coming from. It is performance-based, getting results.”

The now-GFA coaching instructor noted that one does not need to be a Ghanaian to perform; the only thing is that one does the work well when it is given to him. It is about professionalism.

“Ghanaian coaches would keep building their capacities and when riped enough and you prove it, why not, the opportunity will always be there for the taking.”

Kwasi Appiah is Ghanaian and was given the job and he qualified Ghana for the 2014 World Cup. How about that,? he quizzed.

By Andrew Nortey