Mixed feelings as embattled Black Stars head to Gabon

Black Stars players had a tough time on Twitter on Wednesday night. As they reacted to a tough Nations Cup draw and went on to declare just how much they want to do well in Gabon, those unconvinced by the claims stepped out to declare with some glee how they hope the team does not do well in Gabon.

Christian Atsu and Daniel Amartey declared with a great deal of maturity how they are prepared to do well in Gabon, exorcise the ghosts of recent poor Black Stars displays and suggested those queuing up to write the obituaries of the team’s Nations Cup hopes would be in for a surprise.

The sense that the team won’t survive in a group that features seven-time champions Egypt, Uganda who are making a return after 39 years and 1972 silver-medalists Mali was strong. And a lot of that is rooted in a recent poor run.

When FIFA released its monthly ranking of how well national football teams are doing, the Black Stars had dropped two more places in the world and down to fifth in Africa. They had started the year in second place on the continent.

We like to deride the FIFA ranking but in this case it is simply reminding us that since June when the Black Stars won against Mauritius, they have come up short against Rwanda, Russia, Uganda and South Africa.

It is not the sort of form that inspires belief ahead of the Nations Cup. Neither is the presence of Egypt and Uganda. Egypt have won the Nations Cup an incredible seven times. They may have missed the last three editions but they normally show up and do very well or they don’t show up at all. That is why between 2006 to 2010 they won all three that they took part in.

Uganda have earned their respect this side too. In their last three meetings against the Black Stars they have taken FIVE points. They beat them at home and then have drawn twice in Kumasi and Tamale.

“I can’t understand why can’t beat them”, midfielder Emmanuel Agyemang Badu says. “It is a problem for us but we have proved in the past that we are capable of being at our best at the Nations Cup.”

Mali have always been a decent side. They have been not just been Nations Cup regulars but knockout stage regulars too But they have struggled against Ghana in group stage games while winning 3rd place play offs in two of the last four meetings in 2012 and 2013.

“We know many of the countries in the group so we already know it would be difficult. Uganda has given us a tough time lately and there is a reason why Egypt are the record winners of the Nations Cup. We have always beaten Mali in the group stage so we have a fair idea how they play. There would be no easy games but many of those countries would not be happy they got us too,” Badu adds.

Badu and his mates have their work cut out. In the eyes of many people they have no chance. They simply pull on that shirt because it pays a fat bonus and rewards failure, the most recent of the latter phenomenon being the receipt of brand new cars - sleek Jeep Cherokees to be specific - for finishing second in the 2015 Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea. It was a gross glorification of the mundane because Ghana had been silver medalists four whole times - 1968, 1970, 1992 and 2010 - before then.

But writing them off this early is a risk too. For one thing, Avram Grant would have a group of players who know what it takes to play and thrive at this level. The stage won’t be new. That would be an advantage.

Then there would be that pure sense of professional pride and desire to set the records straight. It was a bit like that before the 2015 Nations Cup when literally everyone said the team would make a group stage exit after drawing Senegal, South Africa and Algeria. When the team lost the opening game to Senegal, the feeling that an early flight home was on the cards was profound. But the team kicked into gear and never looked back till that final defeat.

The lesson was simple. Never write us off. That story would inspire them in Gabon.