Former goalkeepers’ trainer of the Black Stars, Abukari Damba
• Damba wants Ghanaians to help Abalora recover from her recent struggles
• Damba believes that Razak should own his mistakes and work on them
• He wants the goalkeepers’ trainer of the Black Stars to assist him
Former goalkeepers’ trainer of the Black Stars, Abukari Damba has charged embattled Kotoko goalie Razak Abalora to own his mistakes and work on them.
Abalora has been at the centre of criticism recently after errors at both club and international level.
At Kotoko, Abalora was dropped to the bench for some of their games after he made repeated mistakes.
He was recently the subject of attacks after a mistake against Morocco whiles in post for the Black Stars. His blunder led to a one – nil loss in Rabat for CK Akonor’s charges.
But Damba believes Abalora should embrace his mistakes and find ways of overcoming them.
He appealed to Ghanaians not to be overly harsh with their attacks on the goalie but rather help him rediscover his form.
“You can never be in a goalpost and not make mistakes. Some mistakes are pardonable and some unpardonable. There are some mistakes which I deem very fundamental and very basic . That is why Abalora must be responsible for these mistakes he has been making.
“We don’t need to chastise him because if we do so we’ll kill his confidence and growth but at the end of it all no matter how we encourage and psyche him, it relies on him as an individual to get himself up.
“It is not about how many times you fall, it’s about how many times you get up, so the responsibility lies on Abalora to wake up himself and come back and work.”
Abukari Damba, whiles speaking on GhanaWeb’s Sports Check program, indicated his impression with the level of goalkeeping in the Ghana Premier League, praising the goalkeepers for making efforts to adapt to the ‘functional’ role of goalkeeping.
“The goalkeeping department has been very active this year and I have seen it in Abalora, the Aduana goalkeeper, the WAFA goalkeeper has also impressed me. The goalkeeper of Great Olympics has also proven himself,” Damba stated.