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Claude Le Roy: Due diligence please!
By Richard Avornyotse – GNA Sports Desk
Accra, Feb 20, Ghanadot/GNA – The
debate rages on. Opinions are pouring in for and against the
topic. The camp is divided among the pros and cons and the
main man fuelling the discourse is Monsieur Claude Le Roy.
Should the French coach of the senior national team, the
Black Stars be retained or dismissed.
There are various schools of thought trying to make their
positions known in order to influence the Ghana Football
Association (GFA) to buy their take on the issue.
To most of them, the parameter for measuring the caliber and
performance of the coach is the just ended Ghana 2008, where
our agenda of “hosting to win” was botched and we had to
contend ourselves with the bronze, “a high profile honour”
as the third best team on the continent.
As we find various reasons to make the bronze glitter as
gold in order to pacify concerned citizens and raise the
psyche of the nation, we should not forget that there is a
vast difference in the market value of the two commercial
metals.
Gold is gold and bronze is bronze and there is no way any
metal-smith could transform one into the other.
That notwithstanding, it becomes very necessary to dissect
the tenure of Le Roy and do a pathological analysis of the
entire duration of his tenure as Black Stars’ coach before
drawing conclusions and taking the decision.
There is the need to scrutinize all the official activities
of the coach since he took office and weigh them critically
to see if they conform to our national aim of getting the
Black Stars back on the podium as African champions and
sustaining our participation in the World Cup and possibly
winning it in the near future.
I am sure there would be no qualms if there are signs that
the aforementioned goals are achievable while Le Roy remains
in the saddle, jockeying diligently and netting rave reviews
in the discharge of his duties.
Having said that, let me emphasise that it would require a
consortium of high technical brains to assess the tenure of
the coach and pass judgment about his competence or
otherwise.
The GFA Executive Committee must hold the bull by the horn
and resort to due diligence to arrive at an impartial
decision because soccer affects every stratum of the
Ghanaian society; the reason why my 10 year old daughter
wept and skipped dinner when the Black Stars lost to
Cameroon in the semi final match.
I know there is a Technical Director at the FA, but taking
into consideration the enormity of the task, it would be
prudent to constitute a technical committee made up of some
of our high crest coaches to produce the scorecard of Le
Roy.
They must revisit the Black Stars 4-1 win over Nigeria, the
1-1 draw with Austria, the 1-0 win over Japan and the 3-1
defeat of South Korea.
Other matches they would have to look at include the 1-1
draw with Senegal, the 0-1 loss to Brazil, the 1-1 tie with
Australia the 5-0 disgrace from Saudi Arabia and all the
matches of Ghana 2008.
They must look at tactics, involving attack, retention,
mobility, release or distribution and defence. They must
also take account of player relationships and cooperation
and concentration during matches.
The team must also be tasked to look at pre match
preparations including choice of tactics, decisions on
attack or defence, ie the resort to wing play, long balls
through the middle, swift runs at the opponents, wall
passing in front of goal and shooting from specific
distances. The coaches will know better.
Le Roy’s attitude during matches must also come under the
lens. His general composure and reactions during matches
must be thoroughly scrutinized. Why did he fail to alert the
backline to get back into position in the match against
Cameroon? Was he carried away by the forward run of the
Stars at that time and forgot to watch his back?
Another thing of great importance that should be on the card
will be the relationship between the coach and his players.
Does Le Roy have his favourites and give them preference in
team selection to the detriment of fitness and current form?
He must convince Ghanaians that it was more beneficial to
include injured Shilla Illiasu, untested Bernard Kumordzi,
Kwadwo Asamoah and Nana Kwasi Asare in the CAN 2008 squad,
while Francis Dickoh, Moussa Narry and Mathew Amoah were
discarded.
Has Le Roy got the ability to induce the best form from his
players? Is he capable of talking a player whose form had
dipped into resurrection?
Agreed that psychologists have a major role to play in the
performance of a team, but it is common knowledge that most
high profile coaches have the endowment to oil the mental
capacity of their players before matches.
Asamoah Gyan carried our hope to Ghana 2008 but his form
dipped and he remained a shadow of himself until he bowed to
injury; or was it fatigue?
What about a local component of the Black Stars which Le Roy
had promised? What is its composition and how many matches
has it played?
After engaging in many international matches, why couldn’t
Le Roy pick a team of 23 or a number close to it but had to
come out with an initial list of 40, a month to the
tournament? Why did he fail to identify his best players
after all those matches?
While we seek to get a true assessment of Le Roy, it will be
imperative to talk to the players and seek their opinions.
Some of them have played under top class coaches and can
easily distinguish mediocrity from excellence.
And there should be no partiality or favouritism in the
discharge of this arduous national duty. The GFA Executive
Committee is made up of professionals of all shades. There
are Lawyers, Accountants, Journalists, Town and City
Planners and other professionals and they must ensure that
they work together to address this pertinent issue.
The GFA must collectively engage in due diligence to select
a technical committee that would work in the paramount
interest of Mother Ghana.
The Committee must also indulge in due diligence to arrive
at a formula that would be devoid of any biases or
sentiments as they assess Monsieur Le Roy.
Ghana’s pride gets dented and the nation mourns when our
Black Stars fail to shine. The nation’s heart bleeds and the
citizens of all ranks mourn when they lose.
Soccer, no doubt is the passion of the nation and everything
must be done to get it on a positive streak.
GNA
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