Have Ghanaian Players Been That Poor?

Ghana has had only one African Footballer of the Year. Could we have produced more, though?

It remains a tad surprising that Ghana, a country that has long hovered around the summit of African football’s power rankings, has produced no more than one continental Player of the Year since Caf took over the awards scheme in 1992.

That sole winner was Abedi Ayew, in that very year, and since the ‘Maestro’ picked the gong, it has been a chain of near misses and plain robbery.

Close, but no cigar

It isn’t as though Ghanaians haven’t merited more prizes. They have. And there are more than a few examples to illustrate the point.

As the 20th century gave way to the 21st, few African footballers bettered Ghanaian centre-back Samuel Osei Kufuor. Still, Kufuor never placed any higher than second on the two occasions he was considered (behind Nwankwo Kanu and El Hadji Diouf in 1999 and 2001 respectively), with the latter denial proving more incredulous than the first as ‘Tuga’ romped to European and intercontinental conquest as a key cog in Ottmar Hitzfield’s Bayern Munich juggernaut.

For five years running, from 2005 and 2009, Michael Essien took over the baton of heartbreak from his senior colleague. Granted, it was a spell during which African football had a hatful of stand-out stars worth celebrating.

Didier Drogba was as instrumental for Chelsea and Cote d’Ivoire as compatriots Samuel Eto’o Fils (Barcelona & Cameroon), Mohamed Abouterika (El Ahly & Egypt), Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal & Togo), and Frederic Kanoute (Seville & Mali) were for their respective sides.

Essien, though, was no less impressive. Forget Drogba’s goals; it was Essien’s power and dynamism that kept Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea 1.0 ticking like clockwork. For Ghana, the ‘Bison’ consistently oozed brilliance each time he pulled on his country’s white shirt.

Essien might have been unfortunate to have had his star crowded out by the aforementioned lumnaries of that era, but it’s hard to argue he didn’t deserve something worthwhile to show for his efforts. Needless to say, he never got it. Instead, he flitted between the runner-up spots, often coming close, but never quite ending up with the coveted cigar.

If Kanoute and Adebayor – who arguably never reached Essien’s levels, they’d be the first to admit – managed to receive one apiece, why not the infinitely more illustrious Ghanaian?

Before long, Essien’s career had plateaued and declined, anyway, but another of his countrymen, striker Asamoah Gyan, was quickly accelerating, largely on the back of remarkable displays at successive editions of the Fifa World Cup. At South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014, Gyan put up some of Africa’s best individual performances.

He led Ghana’s charge for a semi-final ticket at the first of those tournaments and came just a converted spotkick short of securing that achievement nearly all by himself; at the most recent Mundial, Ghana faltered but Gyan glittered, breaking records that, among other things, saw him surpass the legendary Roger Milla as Africa’s all-time topscorer in World Cup history.

On both occasions, though, the ‘Baby Jet’ has been overlooked by Caf and the votes. The latest instance couldn’t have hurt more, given that he propped up his claim for the award with a stunning season with Al Ain, the UAE outfit he plays for, where he picked a third domestic goalking title on the trot and was crowned the AFC Champions League’s topscorer and also Asia’s Best Foreign Player. Still, somehow, Gyan wasn’t deemed fit to make Caf’s top three when the remaining contenders that were named.

That snub has got the otherwise nonchalant Gyan breathing fire at Caf this week.

Speaking to Ghanasoccernet, Gyan sounded frustrated, vexed, and desperate. He really can’t be faulted, when you think of it.

“Talking about my achievements at the World Cup, talking about the qualifiers to the World Cup, talking about club level and the Asian Champions League, I think everything went well for me and I was able to prove myself,” he opined.

Gyan continued: “What I want to ask Caf is that what do I do or what does a player have to do to win the award? Because in the past we all know some players who deserved it, but didn’t’t get it. For me I don’t think it is fair.”

To Gyan (and perhaps to many others as well), Caf ought not look beyond his exploits at last year’s World Cup to confirm who has really been Africa’s finest in the period under review.

“An African country went to the World Cup, and an African player broke a record. If you mention the all-time leading African scorers in the history of the World Cup then it is going to be me.

“So if I represent Africa and then I do other things right and I don’t get it then the question I want to ask is that what else can I do to win it?”

In asking that concluding question, Gyan probably only had himself in mind but, by extension, he might well have been inquiring on behalf of all his colleagues – including young Andre Ayew who had a genuine shout when challenging the relatively more accomplished duo of Yaya Toure and Seydou Keita in 2011 (he was good enough to pick the BBC’s version that year, mind) – who have been inexplicably overlooked over the years.

Of course it would be baseless, even silly, to suggest an anti-Ghanaian conspiracy brewing in Cairo, given that Ghana’s current FA boss has been quite influential as a member of Caf’s Executive Committee in recent years but, candidly, it does seem a bit weird that, after two Senegalese winners, one Moroccan, a Liberian, a Togolese, a Malian, five Nigerians and as many Ivorians and Cameroonians, Ghana is still waiting for only its second.

And, for some not too apparent reason, we’re likely going to wait a little longer.

Until then, the diagnosis – little more than an exercise in futility – continues.

By: Kanyiri Subuur Lucio