Kwesi Appiah’s wish has been met but he should be ready to face the consequences when injuries come calling
The Normalisation Committee maybe doing their best but some things must be tackled, especially, when the country’s president has tasked us to be citizens and not spectators.
Following the ban by Fifa on Sierra Leone and subsequent cancellation of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying double header against the Leone Stars, Dr. Kofi Amoah-led Normalisation Committee has quickly arranged a game with Asante Kotoko to help the Black Stars continue their fine tuning.
However, I may sound controversial but then, the game against Asante Kotoko is good but not better or best of options, methinks.
Per my checks, non of the clubs that our foreign players ply their trades with is aware of such arrangements and my sources have revealed that the Normalisation Committee believes it is not even necessary to notify them since the players have already been released.
Seriously, we’re putting our players in danger just to satisfy a few. Players like Christian Atsu has been struggling for game time at Newcastle United, same as Asamoah Gyan and Nicholas Opoku who have played only 44 minutes and 35 seconds respectively for Kayserispor and Udinese and any injury will mean that they will be out of their teams for some time.
Kwadwo Asamoah has been awesome for Inter Milan this season, just like Wakaso Mubarak for Deportivo Alaves in La Liga and any injury concern as a result of this game against Kotoko won’t be good news for everyone.
Any injury as a result will not help our preparations for the game against Ethiopia next month, therefore, to put our players in no danger, the Normalisation Committee should have either arrange for an international friendly, camp the players while training until next week or allow them to join their families.
Kotoko is a big club with good form currently, so you won’t expect a low tempo game against them, rather competitiveness.
In-form Songne Yacouba will try to prove a point, while Amos Frimpong, Richard Senanu, Emmanuel Gyamfi, Agyemang Badu and even Felix Annan will hope to use this game as a major tool to underline signals that there are still qualities back home.
Just cast your mind back to when Sulley Muntari got injured in a game with his friends back home which wasn’t part of the plan of AC Milan.
The Normalisation Committee should be careful in their dealings, although Ghanaians, especially those around Kumasi will watch the game with delight but who’ll bear the inconveniences, if any comes up later?
The narratives are good today but might change tomorrow.
