When referee Mike Dean red carded Daniel Opare for a second bookable offense in the 32nd minute of the international friendly between Ghana's Black Stars and the Selecao from Brazil, I experienced that odd feeling, déjà vu!
An enthralling match reduced to a one sided contest where the disadvantaged is left with no choice but to do damage control.
is what transpired last night September 5, 2011 at Fulham's Craven Cottage. Ghana reduced to 10 men spent the rest of the night warding off a rather listless Brazil to keep the score line to a minimum 1-0 loss courtesy Leandro Damiao in the 44th minute.
Those were the headlines, but from a Ghanaian perspective, what were the gains and pains from the game.
The Good:
Adam Kwarasey, man on the moment. The Black Stars new boy, recently cleared by FIFA to play for the Black Stars after living in Norway his entire 23 years was the star of the night.
You can fault him for being way off his line for the first goal but you could not have failed to notice his general composure, quick reflexes, ability to start attacks and those two hair-raising saves he made from Ronaldinho’s freekick and Pato’s clinical header.
Kwarasey is definitely here to stay, but has he displaced good old Richard Kingson? I am only asking o!
Jordan is one for the future. Upfront all by himself for greater periods of the match, Jordan Ayew cast a lonely figure, but that did not dampen his energy and the few times that he had the ball, he made Thiago Silva overwork.
A good prospect who needs more games to gain some maturity. He is one for the future.
Jonathan's stock rises. In my last article, I implored Jonathan Mensah to cut out the antics from his game.
Well, he seemed to have taken heed. Jon displayed courage, aerial presence and made timely interceptions against the quick silver Brazilian attackers. But Jon that was too much brawn last night.
Add a little finesse to your tackling and you will be on your way to greatness.
The courage of Goran 'Plavi' Stavanovic. I am beginning to like Plavi. You want to know why? It’s not his attacking style.
It is not even his formations. I mean with him, it gets messy sometimes. Like Samuel Inkoom at left wing?
No wonder Inkoom struggled to compose himself and failed to make use of that early chance.
Am pretty sure Plavi is going to get a consistent shape to his team soon. What I like about him is his courage.
His courage to give Kwarasey a real chance to play in goal the other day against Swaziland and then last night against Brazil.
That was a big decision. So it was, when he also decided to give debuts to Rabiu Mohammed and Albert Adomah and playing time to four other players.
Indeed, this brings me to the next point.
I am talking Depth, Depth, Depth. Ghana faced Brazil without John Mensah, Kevin Prince Boateng, Asamoah Gyan, Michael Essien, Andre Ayew and Richard Kingson.
Six! Six solid starters and still managed a decent game. That should be some piece of good news.
A team is only as strong as its bench and imagine if just half of the absentees are in good form and available. Victories? Cups? Yes a cup will do.
I mean the last cup won by the Stars was way back in 1982! Depth would go a long way to birth that dream.
THE BAD
The question of the left back. Yawn, yawn! That is what I just did, I mean aren’t you tired and bored that a solution has not been found.
Since the days of Emmanuel Addoquaye Pappoe, we have had right footed players deployed at the left back for the stars with same disastrous outings.
It is only Hans Adu Sarpei who has had a decent shift there but our big brother is past it now.
Last night, Daniel Opare, a conventional right back who has been holding the fort remarkably for the last couple of games cracked.
He was exposed against speedy and tricky wingers, so much so that, he lost his calm, made some reckless tackles and took an early shower.
Just like we found Kwarasey, all hands should be on deck to find a permanent solution.
No committees please! Just a little spirited scouting home and abroad will do.
The question marks over Kwadwo. The first time I saw Kwadwo Asamoah play for Liberty Professionals back in Ghana, I knew he was 'gonna be a star'.
He seemed to be fulfilling his promise when he played an influential role in Ghana's qualification to the 2010 World Cup and even at the 2010 Nations Cup in Angola.
Kwadwo however choked at the World Cup and has since then not been his swashbuckling self for the Stars.
Indeed I have wondered and pondered what the problem could be, until lately when I began to study his body language.
Kwadwo seems distinctly disinterested. It was apparent last night again that his heart was just not in the game.
It looked like a duty more than honour and that doesn’t look good. Somebody counsel Kwadwo and bring his 'mojo' back quick.
Lose the highline offside trap now! With good old John Mensah not in the line up last night, I hardly expected to see highline offside traps from the Black Stars.
How wrong I was. The students have learnt from the captain. Countless times, the Stars defence have been beaten by quicker and intelligent attackers.
Last night, on one of their highline sojourns, a Brazilian player looked up, saw a hole and intelligently played a through pass, Vorsah took off late and a few seconds later, Damiao ruthlessly shot pass Kwarasey. 1-0! Match over.
Guys, if you know you are not quick and organised as a unit and in sync while setting the trap, don’t do it, don’t.
THE UGLY
Horrendous tackling. Yes horrendous, can't think of any superlative now but that was how bad and ugly the tackling was.
It is only becoming a pattern these days that once the Black Stars engage some of these high profile teams especially the Brazilians, you can wager on a red card.
So Mike Dean took a rush decision, yes, but Opare had been rush in earlier challenges.
Dean had already carded him in his mind and was only waiting for the opportune time.
Opare aside, Mensah and substitute Lee Addy put in some amateurish tackles that would have been punished under different circumstances.
The handlers of the team should teach the young boys some emotional intelligence so as not to lose their cool in intense moments.
Brazil look boring. For a nation that has won five World Cups and at a point in time became the reference for beautiful football (Joga Bonito), the nation that brought us Samba football, Brazil looked out of sorts last night with only momentary flashes of brilliance from an old horse, Ronaldinho.
That pretty much sums up the current state of Brazilian football - Ugly. I am dead serious; I didn’t say that to feel good about the loss, Brazil was that boring.
Okay, it feels good slightly, just a little bit but only for a little while and then you snap out and realise the Black Stars have issues of its own, or?
Nii Ayitey Tetteh
Watch the highlights of the Ghana-Brazil friendly
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