As a die-hard football fan, nothing stings more than watching the Black Stars—once the pride of Ghana—fall from grace, leaving a trail of heartbreak and frustration in their wake.

The Ghana Football Association and Black Stars have caused me so much pain with the incessant failures of our football over the years. Just like many of my contemporaries, I grew up watching the likes of Michael Essien, Stephen Appiah, Asamoah Gyan, Derek Boateng, John Mensah, etc. Suffice it to say, that my generation was a lucky one. We were pampered with victories, became entitled to progress, and were allergic to defeats.

Let me remind you of our chronological successes:

2006: Round of 16 as first-timers in the World Cup

2008: AFCON Semi-Finals

2010: AFCON Finals

2010: World Cup Quarter-Finals

2012: AFCON Semi-Finals

2013: AFCON Semi-Finals

2015: AFCON Finals

2017: AFCON Semi-Finals

Even though we didn't win a trophy, we were cruising.

When I started watching football, I became emotionally attached to Senegal and Portugal as my football countries because, in 2002, I watched Senegal play the finals against Cameroon in Mali, and I loved the squad! Fast forward to the same year, I watched them in the World Cup, and oh my days! That performance has been etched in my memory forever. They were my 2010 Black Stars then.

I watched Greece 2004 and experienced love at first sight with Cristiano Ronaldo, thus my support for Portugal. Let me not bore you with history.

All I am saying is, even as a football fan who enjoyed great moments with the Black Stars, I didn't even know they existed when I started watching football. My first experience with the Black Stars was AFCON 2006—the boys in black were knocked out in the group stage of the tournament. Since that tournament, I saw a different Black Stars—winners.

I am not a sports journalist, nor am I a football expert or analyst like Patrick Boni, but I love football, and adding my voice, I believe, won't hurt the sports fraternity.

The Curve of Success in Football

The problem with the Black Stars isn't a coaching one if you ask me. Success in football is like a curve. Historically, countries with immeasurable success in football have had to reach the saturation point and later hit the rocks to a steady decline.

Brazil won the 1994 World Cup, were first runners-up in 1998, won the 2002 World Cup, and were knocked out in the quarter-finals in 2006 and 2010. They were Semi-Finalists in 2014 and quarter-finalists in 2018 and 2022. As far as Brazil is concerned, the trajectory hasn't been the best in recent times.

Germany lost the 2002 World Cup finals to Brazil, were Semi-Finalists in 2006 and 2010, won the World Cup in 2014, and were eliminated in the group stage in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups—a great fall.

Let me bring it home:

Senegal in 2002 were arguably Africa's best, even though they lost the final to Cameroon. They were runners-up in AFCON and went on to be the only African country to reach the Quarter-Finals of the FIFA World Cup.

What happened to the team after that generation? They failed miserably until 2019, when Sadio Mané and his squad changed the face of the team under a former player turned coach—Aliou Cissé.

They lost the finals to Algeria in 2019 and came back in 2022 to win the 2021 AFCON; in that same year, they became the only African country to reach the Round of 16 at the Mundial.

In 2024, they were eliminated at the quarter-finals stage by the host—Ivory Coast.

After winning the 1998 AFCON in Burkina Faso, Egypt were "absent" from the continent's football stage until 2006, when they won their fifth AFCON title. That squad won three consecutive AFCON trophies. Post 2010, they couldn't even make it to the semis until 2017 in Gabon.

Accepting the ebb and rebuilding

I am giving this background so we appreciate the concept of the curve I mentioned earlier. We need to face the truth as a country—we are experiencing the ebb of the curve, and it is difficult to embrace it.

It is quite unfortunate that between 2008 and 2017, our "golden generation" couldn't win us a trophy. It will take us some years to rebuild and have another generation to bring back the memories. Let us not be in haste to change coaches for want of instant successes—that will be a knee-jerk reaction.

After Spain—a country that was struggling to even make the Semi-Finals in major tournaments—reached the peak of the curve, they won the 2008 and 2012 Euros; in between those years, they won the World Cup. What happened after? They crashed out of the 2014 World Cup at the group stage, eliminated by Russia at the Round of 16 stage of the 2018 World Cup, and in 2022, after qualifying from the group stage by a whisker, they were beaten by Morocco at the Round of 16 stage.

Do you see the fall? But what happened after? They won the 2024 Euros. They reached the peak of the curve, declined to the ebb, and did something right to rise again. Since Vicente del Bosque, they have appointed five coaches. All the coaches, except Luis de la Fuente, achieved nothing worth Spain's salt.

Focus on the future

Since 2018, the GFA has appointed about four coaches, and what has been the result? We keep retrogressing. Give the team to Otto Addo, focus on building the players from the base, allow them to connect with each other both on and off the pitch, invest in good sports infrastructure, and give time some time. We will get the results we need.

Some people try to blame the current decline on Anas' exposé. Fair, but let's not forget that the exposé came to the fore on June 6, 2018, and as of that time, our fate in the World Cup was already known—we didn't qualify. So yes, under Nyantakyi, we chalked successes, and after the exposé, our perennial failures began. But the curve has been declining, and we didn't pay attention—the 2014 World Cup was a typical example.

As a football fan, I wish the GFA could hear me, but I am a bit far removed, so I can only opine. I know Ghanaians can't wait to hear Otto Addo's sack to assuage their pain, but don't sack him. The team is at the ebb of the curve, and we need to embrace it and rebuild.