‘Le Roy’s Sack, Good For Ghana’

Ganiyu Salman, just back from Kumasi, Ghana - 17.05.2008

EX-Ghanaian international, Sarfo Gyamfi, has hailed the decision of the Ghanaian Football Association (GFA) to part company with Claude Le Roy, saying the country is blessed with a lot of competent indigenous coaches who can handle the Black Stars.

Gyamfi, a member of the squad that lost to Cote d’Ivoire in the final of the 1992 Nations Cup in Senegal in an interview with Tribunesports after Dolphins lost 1-4 to Asante Kotoko in the Confederation Cup in Kumasi, said the Frenchman made no difference while handling the Black Stars.

“We lost the last Nations Cup from the bench despite that we were the host. I played under many coaches during my days like Sam Adjei, Jones Cecil Attuquayefio, Emmanuel Afranie, before we brought in a foreign coach Kutindov, but when I look at the present squad, the coach, (Le Roy) has not made any difference.

“So, why not stick to a local coach? We have a number of home-based players who can easily be drafted into the main team,” the former Kwara Water and Lagos NEPA striker said. The former Asante Kotoko player stressed that the result of Ghana 2008 was enough to send Le Roy packing.

“When Kutindov (a German) came in, there was a sharp difference because he made our team then to be highly mobile. We were all moving but Le Roy has not been able to make any difference since he came as far as I’m concerned, and it is better to have a local coach in charge,” said the former player of VFB Leipez of Germany.

The player known as Garba Mohammed during his days in Nigerian football also applauded the appointment of a local coach for the Super Eagles, stressing that it was a timely decision. “I was not impressed with the Super Eagles during the last tournament in Ghana. The team was a disaster compared to what we used to have while I was in Nigeria.”

“I learnt the foreign coach (Beti Vogts) is no more the coach of the Super Eagles. It is good for Nigeria because your team always plays well under local coaches. “My friend, Austin Eguavoen was okay while in charge of the national team. I played against him, he was a good player too. The present coach (Shuaibu Amodu) given his antecedents will move the team forward”, he said.

Meanwhile, the Black Stars would this weekend face the Hawks of Togo in the return leg tie of the African Nations Championship (CHAN), this time, in Takoradi. The first leg ended 2-0 in favour of the Ghanaians in Accra.

Tribunesports gathered that Togo had picked Takoradi for its home matches in the newly-introduced competition after the ban by the Confederation of African football (CAF). The Ghanaians began camping on Monday in Accra but the five players invited from Kotoko, Harrison Afful, Prince Anokye, Francis Akwaffo, Opoku Jordan and two-goal heroes against Dolphins, Eric Bekoe, could not get to the camp until after the team’s league game against Hearts of Lions played on Tuesday.