Several years ago, when Cameroonian footballer Roger Miller was asked by the media whether the Indomitable Lions were the best African team: His response was that the world hadn’t seen the best from Africa yet.
The football legend who had helped his side to reach a quarter-final belt in the 1990 FIFA World Cup tourney staged in Italy, added they should wait and see the Brazilians of Africa. He was reoffering to the Black Stars of Ghana—four-time African champions in 1963, 1965, 1978, and 1982.
Miller was right. The Stars had the name, they had the players and of course they were the best at the time. They taught most African football nations how to play the beautiful game—-the Green Eagles of Nigeria can’t be left out as the beneficiaries. In December 1965 the Stars humiliated Kenya national team by a whopping 13-2. It was Kenya’s independence celebration!
Ironically they (the Stars) never made it to the global football fiesta. Not only that they’d been denied any trophies at the continental level much as urine has denied the fowl. That glory was fading!
Its enviable record has since been equaled and even surpassed by nations such as Egypt. In fact the Stars didn’t qualify for FIFA World Cup until 2006.
What went wrong with the Stars then appears to be a similar bug that’s troubling Manchester United’s newly—hired Coach Jose Mourinho (former manager of Chelsea Football Club). To understand clearly why things seem not to work out for the celebrated coach one has to look at the Stars’ performance back in the day.
Without a doubt the Stars wanted to end the trophy drought. They wanted to retain their past glory and put smiles back on the faces of Ghanaians. But tried as they did it turned out there was a deep-seated schism .And that division would cost the team for over a decade.
This is what cost them. The Black Stars had two most powerful players—Abedi Pele (captain) and Tony Yeboah aka Yegoala (who once captained Frankfurt, German club) ’.Rumor had it that the two weren’t in good terms and they’d cliques in the team. Though both denied the allegation, there was a shred of truth in that rumor or perception.
Bottom line you can’t win a football match with a divided team, with no clear understanding and purposefulness. The cliques played to the tune of their idols and the end result was always abysmal and distasteful.
Lesson for Mourinho
He’s one of only five coaches to have won the European Cup with two different teams. In 2009-10 he led Inter Milan to become the first Italian club to win the treble of Serie A, Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions league. His successes in Chelsea FC were equally outstanding. He won the premier league title with a record 95 points, the club’s first league title in 50 years. And his second spell with the club in 2013 saw Chelsea winning another league championship .But he was sacked in 2015 after a poor run of results. Yes the special one as he calls himself lost favour in the eyes of his teaming supporters.
Part of the problem had to do with his leadership style. His critics see him as controversial, brusque and not playing good football. The Hazard, Costa and the Eva controversy could be seen as another factor that spurred his fall in Chelsea.
In August this year Jose Mourinho got booed by Man-United fans after substituting Spain midfielder Juan Mata just 29 minutes after introducing him from bench in United’s 2-1 Community Shield win over Leister City.
On Sundays September 18 Man United were beaten by Watford 3-1, their third defeat in eight days. He said his team was low on confidence after Watford loss. Certainly confidence is one of the problems bedeviling the Red Lions. But I’m pretty sure it goes beyond that.
In association football every team has what I describe as their ‘demigods’. They are often the senior players with long term service in the club who wield power and influence. They can help make the team and they can break it too.
Zlatan Ibrahimović, Wayne Rooney, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Phil l Jones, these are players with influence, hence benching them or one for weeks has the potential to spark indifference in the whole team regardless. Remember, I mentioned the cliques. And I’m afraid that’s what Mourinho is reaping now.
Last but not least, United’s world-record signing fee of 119 million pounds for France midfielder Paul Pogba could be a factor too, if for example the player in question can’t find the net. He will soon become a pariah in the team. A classic example was Fernando Torres from Liverpool who joined Chelsea 2011 for a British record transfer fee of 50 million pounds.