Black Stars’ Goalkeeper Crisis

For those associated with Ghana football for a long time, the answer is fairly straightforward. Sammy Adjei, the man who was pivotal in Hearts of Oak’s to their Champions League title success in 2000, should be the man to take over.

They are wrong. If you still have that image of Adjei please bin it in a hurry. He has also lost his dexterity. His recent matches for Hearts of Oak have not been up to the standard expected of a Black Stars goalkeeper and if the recent results of the Accra side’s matches are anything to go by then Ghana must be worried. Hearts narrowly escaped relegation and Adjei was not one of the outstanding players in the unimpressive side.

Ghana fans must be anxious because Berekum Chelsea goalkeeper Ernest Sowah, who is now the second choice Black Stars shot-stopper, does not have the experience at the top level to take over the starting place if Kingson is dropped.

Let’s face it – if Kingson leaves the scene, the Black Stars will struggle.

The problem is that previous coaches from Ratomir Dujkovic, Claude Le Roy and Milovan Rajevac made no effort in creating competition in Ghana’s goalkeeping department which means Kingson dominated the post for six years.

They failed to seize the opportunity at least in friendly matches to give the confidence to the other goalkeepers in the team to aspire to fight Kingson for his position.

With Sowah and Adjei unlikely to be given the chance to takeover and with no goalkeepers in the local scene with no chance of getting into the team, Ghana has to rely on foreign-based goalkeepers to rescue the Black Stars.

Adam Kwarasey of Stromgodset is the best candidate given his performances in the Norwegian top-flight but the sluggish approach by the Ghana FA to his nationality switch is a matter of grave concern.

Razak Brimah also looks like a good candidate but the Real Betis goalkeeper’s lack of action is a reason why he can’t go be given an automatic place in the Black Stars. His decision to leave the Betis is spot on he must now look for regular action in Spain to be able to compete for a place.

The fact that Ghana are now turning to foreign-born goalkeepers to rescue the country shows that goalkeeping on the local scene is in a terrible state which needs urgent fixing.