Stop the sloganeering! …four-time champions, and so what?

Blue-blistering barnacles! (apologies to Captain Haddock in the Adventures of Tintin).

So, it came to pass rather devastatingly that the Black Stars of Ghana crumbled like a pack of cards at the ongoing African Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

A lame loss to Morocco, disappointing draw to Gabon and an outrageous defeat at the hands of debutants Comoro Islands were enough to see Ghana crash at the group stage. The world stood in disbelief as the Stars only managed a single point from a possible nine.

The BBC, CNN, Aljazeera, Sky Sports, Supersport – name them, all had a field day with reports of Ghana’s unimaginable slump to the nation of 869,595 people (according to the 2020 World Bank population), with some of the ‘poetic-imageries’ making fun of the Black Stars.

Some African football experts like Mark Gleeson were startled, wondering whether they were really seeing the early departure of Ghana. It was a crazy moment, but that symbolizes the current standard of the nation’s football.

And, of course by now, we must be honest to ourselves and announce to the entire world that we are no longer one of the giants of African football.

Indeed, our football has sunk almost into the abyss and we can only resurrect from that unenviable tag once we recognize that we are no longer one of the best at the moment.

The sloganeering, the mantra and the shibboleth of four-time African champions that we often scream at the least opportunity, must stop henceforth. It means nothing now to anybody, especially majority of the youth who have never seen the Stars lift any trophy.

Is it not shameful and distressing that when Ghana won its fourth Nations Cup in 1982, Cameroon had not even set eyes on the coronet for once? Today, the Cameroonians have clinched it five times and has a team that is demonstrating an extremely promising future to the world.

In the same vein, the Pharaohs of Egypt had lifted the trophy just twice at the time Ghana won it for keeps in 1982. Interestingly, the Pharaohs have gone ahead to annex it a staggering five more times.  Today, we are not only known as the sleeping giants of African football, but we have slipped into a nadir of shame and ignominy due to the disturbing level of mediocrity of our players.

Now, the Stars are rapidly gaining notoriety of qualifying for tournaments they cannot hope to win. And, this is the major reason why you no longer see flags flying when they play. This is not a matter of lack of nationalism, patriotism or loyalty.  The let-downs are a bit too many to rekindle any love story.

Indeed, let us not be pretentious about that. If a team you support wholeheartedly makes it a routine occurrence to let you down when the expectation is all-too high, your support will naturally wane one day.  That is the situation now.

The writings had always been on the wall even before our penultimate tournament where we crashed out at the last-16 stage three years ago in Egypt. The Sword of Damocles had always been hanging around the neck of our football all these while; but like ostriches, we plunged out heads in the sand.  We blatantly refused to see when it was even visible to the blind.

Today, the beloved Stars have become a subject of revulsion and rejection. They are no longer appreciated. They are eulogized no more. Their mere sight even put people off!  In short, they are not loved but loathed. 

Truth is that until they lift up their game and start performing again, it would be difficult to get the love back. Maybe, that revival must start with getting the result over Nigeria in the impending World Cup play-off against Nigeria, this March.

Anything short of that would rather aggravate the situation!

By John Vigah