That Holland game will be an interesting insight. Have to love that the WC is only 2 months away. What a lovely time to be a soccer/football fan.
Ghana has the top level quality however. Jordan Ayew's Valenciennes host Alejandro Bedoya's Nantes on the 20th.
Know Your Enemy: Ghana's Kwadwo Asamoah http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/so...ur-enemy-juventus-ghana-kwadwo-asamoah-usmnt/
Asamoah Gyan continues his goalscoring feats. Now on 56 league goals in 44 games + 7 goals in 6 in the Asian Champions League. Looks very fit and lean + excellent hustle on both goals (plus a superb headed goal): www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRL5AQSioH0#t=123 Christian Atsu meanwhile has been voted player of the season at Vitesse. David Accam a new name. Could be a surprise inclusion for the World Cup - 9 goals in 10 games for Helsingborg.
Asamoah Gyan with another brace (his stats this season are through the roof, albeit in a weak league). First goal reminiscent of the injury time goal vs USA: David Accam scores a classy goal, although no highlights on the internet. Calls it 'the best goal in his career'. Apparently a Maradonesque goal with him sprinting from midfield and dodging 5 challenges . Another late name is John Antwi, who is topscorer in Egypt with 11 goals (8 in the last 7). This one was a simple tapin however: First time in three cups, that Ghana has a headache of strikers actually scoring goals prior to a World Cup.
Curious what your thoughts are on the linked article in SI above about K. Asamoah? Particularly on how marketing to particular positions has impacted the talent pool.
Marketing positions has definitely been the bane of all African teams in the last 10 or so years. But I don't think it affects K. Asamoah. He's such an easy-going player, almost nonchalant. He's not the type of player that will get the headlines, but everyone knows in Ghana that technically and vision-wise he's Ghana's best player. He's just not the leader type like Stephen Appiah was.
Reading Ghana Web posts, it seems the Swiss coach Ottmar Hitzfeld has tipped Ghana to make it out of group, winning one game (vs. the USA) and tying the other two.
No, I didn't mean that, I'm speaking to the argument in the article that it's been so easy to sell on African players that play Holding Midfield position because that's what really thick European Scouts think a particular region is well suited to (say, West Africa, as the article argues) and as a result, club coaches wanting to grab transfer money, funnel their more creative players into those positions so it's more likely they can sell them, as a result, many of the more creative players, plateau in that area of the game because of the coaching that's been focused entirely on developing them into quality holding mids, rather than a pull the strings traditional #10. Does that argument hold up in your opinion, is it a problem? Etc. Curious, as you seem to have a much more direct view on what's going on then the vast bulk of us. I just don't get to see the games, unfortunately so have no idea. Here's the link to the article again (a great one): http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/so...ur-enemy-juventus-ghana-kwadwo-asamoah-usmnt/
Thats what I meant. It really has hurt the development of many African players. Take players like Seydou Keita, Didier Zokora, John Obi Mikel - all creative attacking midfielders when the started out... You can just observe how most African teams now struggle with creative or attacking midfielders, but are overrun with destructive type of midfielders - Cameroon, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire and to a lesser extent Ghana (whose attacking midfielders like Kwadwo Asamoah, Sulley Muntari, Emmanuel Agyeman Badu or Stephen Appiah have all seen thei careers been slightly mixed up by the focus to make them DMs).
Given that the 10 in soccer is similar to the quarterback in American football (players in both positions are seen as masterminds/architects of the team's offense) I would not be surprised if black 10s faced the same kind of setbacks that black quarterbacks did in the NFL. It seems the top African players in the world are all in the Makelele role (and of course, Makelele's former coach was so racist he could not even give him credit for being irreplaceable in the position named after him). Even if it's not racism per se, there's a common wisdom that athletic black players are "wasted" in purely creative positions. It has been one of the ongoing conversations about Paul Pogba:
Accam's goal from Thursday. Would also take note that he made this run in the 90th minute. Ran almost the entire length of the field, although they did colorize it a bit as he only had to brush off three challenges (and a half-hearted fourth), not five The player has yet to have a call-up for Ghana, but I just wonder if he might be a surprise inclusion. Its not like Ghana is overflowing with attacking options and he's way more prolific than Jordan Ayew or Richmond Boakye.
As you noted, it wasn't quite Maradona level but it was still really impressive, especially in the 90th minute. These are the kind of guys you want playing for you, guys who will give everything until the end. I think he should get a look for you guys and get called into camp.
Interesting little connection, on the first two goals in the Accam highlight video, that is one of our internationals, Alejandro Bedoya (currently of Nantes in Ligue 1) assisting him. Accam then assists on a Bedoya goal.
Really interesting thought. Reading the article I was struck by how inexplicably idiotic the idea was that scouts were associating west African players with a position, as if African players aren't capable of mastering any position. Interesting analogy, reminds me of how Warren Moon was basically black balled from the league because of the racism towards black QB's and lost several years due to the idiocy, that Doug Williams, the only QB to lead the Bucs into the playoffs in the first 20+ years of their existence (twice!), and he's let go, for nothing, because of a mild contract dispute. Would that have happened with say Jaws, or Ferragamo, QB's from the same era? Doubtful. Just bizarre, and not hard to imagine that analogy could be in play, but at the same time, in the era of metrics and math geeks holding jobs as GM's, or Assistant GM jobs, how in the hell could they be this stupid and wasteful with talent? It's insane. Of course we've seen the US youth developmental system mismanaged for decades after the NFL, NHL, and MLB had long since mastered developmental set ups for young players. Just bizarre, and not hard to believe with the constant insane racist garbage happening in stadiums in Europe. For all the racism here, and there is plenty, see the voter id garbage etc, if you pulled that banana crap today you'd get your head kicked in, hell by the fans, before the athletes. I hope the answer isn't racism, but I suspect it could play a role, depressing.
That is an interesting article. As mentioned by other posters West Afrcia has produced plenty of #9's, and Ghana's best player Asamoah is a winger. But there certainly is a dearth of #10's from West Africa. Come to think of it, I can think of another national team often discussed on these boards that has produced few successful #10's and has a glut of holding mids . Additionally, Portugal plays without a #10. In the group, perhaps only Germany uses a true #10 One thing that has been discussed is whether the #10 as we know it from the 90's and early 2000's is becoming obsolete. Looking at the EPL, Chelsea and Liverpool do not use a #10. In La Liga, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, and Barca all don't use a traditional #10. Here is a link to a good article from Zonal Marking describing the decline of the #10 in the modern game: http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/03/26/trequartista-engance-classic-no-10sstruggle/ Now perhaps it is a good strategy for West African scouts to not prep their players for a position many teams do not even employ. I certainly hope they are not intentionally stifling these players to fit into a role they aren't meant to play. IMO, it's impossible to transform a true #10 into a defensive mid. It's not in their nature. One possibility to consider is that most professional players are successful attackers to some degree in their youth days. They are usually the best players on their teams and are put in positions to score a lot of goals and control games. It is common for many of these players for these players to slot back into D-Mid or central defensive roles as they look at their prospects of making it as a pro.