Sulley Muntari silenced his critics with a superb goal and then went quiet the rest of the game

This match felt like one of those times in Secondary School where we were practising under the palava hut for a singing competition. We were awful in rehearsals!!! But we put in the effort in hopes that we were actually improving. Sometimes we couldn’t quite see the improvements in rehearsals but we got to the main show and it wasn’t half as bad as we thought. 

Having said that, we were crap on the night. I don’t know how else to put it. I guess I could put a coat of sugar on it but I refuse. No matter how much lipstick you put on a pig, the meat also known as pork, is still that, a pig. We started the game off pretty well and even went ahead in the match courtesy of some clinical finishing from the prodigal son, Sulley Muntari. The game went downhill after Kwadwo Asamoah’s injury in the 35th minute. I am not sure whether the two are related but my guess is yes. After Asamoah left, we started losing possession, we lost our shape  and ultimately allowed the Bosnians back into the game and just before half-time the Bosnians who didn’t waste time trying to play through the middle made one of their direct attacks pay off with the equalizer. They went on to punish our somewhat slack marking in the second half with a shot that stand-in keeper Adjei couldn’t handle. 

A few other observations on the night

There was no penetration on the right with Prince Tagoe and if the coach is looking to play him as anything but a striker this performance may have Milo looking elsewhere. 

Dede Ayew does not seem comfortable on the right. He came on in the second half and much like the game against Cote d’ Ivoire in the CAN, he didn’t do much on the right. Of course, he had to be put on the right as Sulley was on the pitch. 

Sulley Muntari once again showed Ghanaians why he can be invaluable at the Mundial. He also showed us why he can be so ineffective as a player. He took his chance well and scored a stunner of a goal. Other than that, his other contributions were to wear the captain’s armband, almost break a Bosnian player’s ankle with a tough challenge from behind the back, and leave David Addy totally isolated as the left wing back. Sulley’s gifts attacking wise are not in question. However, the beauty of football is its two phases: attack and defense. Let’s just say the Minister of Defense J. H. Smith has nothing to fear from Sulley in any future government reshuffles. 

Otherwise, Lee Addy continued to make the case for starting in the back four, Matthew Amoah continued to provide evidence as to why he shouldn’t be picked, Derek Boateng was fine but considering all the noise advocating his return, I didn’t see much and boy we may need some of our senior men back. 

All in all, it was a good test whose usefulness will be evident in the World Cup inshallah. 

It’s 99 days to Ghana’s first match. The countdown continues.