Feature: Black Starlets had loss to Mali coming a long time ago

Please forgive Danlad Ibrahim for he is nothing but a 14 year old boy thrust into the extremities of football on the big stage.

A platform shared by the likes Toni Kroos and Eden Hazard in recent years and legendary names like Samuel Osei Kuffour, Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien, Ronaldinho and Xavi Hernandez some years before, clearly shows this isn’t one for the faint hearted.

As such, a blunder in a pressure filled environment should be expected from a teenager. None of the teams from Group A progressed beyond the quarter finals; Colombia, Ghana and the United States of America exited the Under 17 World Cup.

That statistic tells a lot about the level of play in the group Ghana’s Black Starlets topped before easing past Niger to play fellow West African side Mali in the last eight.

But failing to progress beyond the African Champions was written on the walls of Guwahathi Stadium before the game commenced on its rain soaked pitch. Until a complete departure from the gong hoo style that had largely characterized Ghana’s game was made, seeing the Black Starlets progress to the final four was a difficult prospect actualizing.

Aside losing twice to Mali this year including the all important continental final game, the Starlets clearly lagged behind Mali in many aspects of the game and it would have been a cruel twist of fate to see the Starlets progress at the expense of Mali. Here is why:

Starlets weren’t tested enough

Ghana lost to the US by a goal in its second preliminary game but beat remaining teams in the group to progress. However, the loss to the Americans highlighted a lot of ills with the team; messing up few chances that propped up, disjointed all round play and a lack of technical direction from Coach Fabin.

Glossing over these flaws courtesy a  4-0 win over lowly ranked India was not ideal neither was the 2-0 win over Niger before facing Mali.

Beating a hesitant Colombia side, a lowly ranked Niger side and talentless India side was not the ideal preparation for a tough side that had inflicted two losses on Ghana leading to the competition. The Starlets had to be better on the night but simply were not as the Malians exploited the team’s weakness in clawing back into a game to go up by two goals and put the tie in the bag long before Ghana launched a fruitless comeback.

Management failed to do its Job

What was the point behind hiring men led by Kwaku Ayiah to lead Ghana’s entourage in India when reports of football agents filtering into camp was rife prior to the game against Niger? Team Managers failed terribly to get the young lads in the right mental frame to take on opponents in the knockout phase.

The Starlets got past Niger on sheer talent; a trait rendered rudderless against an equally gifted Malian side. Mapping out ways to outwit the opponents was bound to fall on deaf ears when promises of destiny changing riches were drummed into teenage ear canals before the game.

A similar occurrence played out in the African competition where a ruthless display in the opening pair of games against the likes of Cameroon was followed by dour play in the remaining games that had the team fail to score in regulation time in three games.

Curiously, the downturn in form took place after the nation heaped massive praise on the youngsters. Government didn’t help matters by rewarding players over $2000 each for placing second in a tournament the nation has won on multiple occasions.

The Coach failed to do his job

When long tenured professionals screw up, they take blame but when a young bunch below 18 years mess around, the father figure-Coach in this case- takes the fall. In another world, Paa Kwesi Fabin should have taken the fall a long time ago after failing to qualify the team to two previous world editions.

However, he survived and shed a lot of doubt off his record by qualifying the team on the third attempt only to mess up on the big stage. Watching the young Stars play through this tournament was like watching Bukuom Banku throw a wild combination at Bastie Samir after receiving a flurry of devastating blows to the head.

Little cohesion, lack of a distinct style of play and complete failure to get the boys into a team first approach characterized Fabin’s time in India’s dugouts.

After spending quite a fortune on per diems and training camp expenses in the United Arab Emirates, the Starlets have nothing to show for on their return the same way many forecasted ages before the tie against Mali.

By Yaw Adjei-Mintah

@YawMintYM on Twitter