What else to make of the Black Stars game yesterday other than it was BORING!!! Given our last match against Saudi Arabia, the result was a vast improvement. But the performance was listless. Given their results in friendly matches over the years, isn’t it about time we expect little from the Black Stars in friendly games? At the very least, we may need to adjust our expectations from these matches. We have to see them as an opportunity to learn about various players and as a way to build a winning team for both the 2012 and 2013 African Cup of Nations as well as God willing the World Cup in Brazil. Here are a few observations and thoughts on the match below.

• Kwesi Appiah may have wasted an opportunity to cxperiment some more with the team. John Panstil has not started a first team match in a couple of months as Mark Hughes is clearly not enamored with his play. Samuel Inkoom however, has played in league matches and Champions League matches. Why not give him a full 90 and see what an entirely new back four can do?
• It was good to see Kevin-Prince Boateng back in the fold for the Stars. We were deprived of his skills in Kumasi and even though he wasn’t spectacular in this match and was substituted after 45 minutes, staying connected with his colleagues is good for team building over the long haul
• What was up with playing in front of a virtually empty stadium? As a player, it must be hard to play a match that looked like it was being played behind closed doors. At least there were a fairly vocal Ghanaian contingent in the stand which must have gone a long way to lifting their spirits
• Given Richard Kingson’s age, aren’t we setting ourselves up for failure by not trying other keepers during friendly matches? A coach can certainly learn a lot about his goalkeepers in training sessions but there is nothing  like live action and I wish Sammy Adjei got at least a whole half. We need to find out whether Isaac Amoako, Daniel Adjei, Sammy Adjei and Stephen Ahorlu are built for the big stage as well as their competencies with long-range shots, crosses and so on.