23 Million Coaches And Counting!!

I am proud of my heritage. I mean who wouldn't? I don't think I have met anyone who genuinely hated their country. Having the 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP in Africa is of huge importance to every country on the continent and not just South Africa, the host nation. This is an opportunity to showcase that we live in a modern world much like the other continents and do not live in tree houses or whatever other silly conceptions ignorant folks [and by folk I mean Westerners] have about the continent. Of the six African countries that entered the World Cup, Ghana was the only one to advance past the knock out stages into the Quarter finals [Now who wouldn't be proud of that?]. That is not an easy task considering the fact that it is Ghana we are talking about. Now don't get me wrong! I will be quick to say that we were the favorites for the African continent from the very beginning...but only by Ghanaians. Everybody else believed the team to be a "one man team" and with Essien out of the picture we were doomed to fail. But, considering the fact that there are over 23 million coaches for the Black Stars in Ghana and millions more scattered around the world, I can imagine the pressure the team was under. Soccer [or Football as Most people call it], is the heart and soul of Ghanaians. I have never seen such intense appreciation of the game from anyone but Ghanaians. Call me biased but we are not your average people when it comes to football. We will take days off to go watch the matches in stadiums or on the television. We will yell at the team, urge them on, coach them, insult the coach, and even go as far as insulting the referees, FIFA, GFA, and even the President [He is, after all, the father of the nation]. And that is not all. We will cry, jubilate, party, lock ourselves up, etc. Football is like a silent but very active girlfriend/boyfriend who we don't mind sharing with each other. Once a game involving the Black Stars is on, everyone [including those who do not understand/watch any sort of sport] becomes an instant expert of the game: What constitutes a foul? Golden and Silver goals prediction, possession percentages, offsides, etc. And even though we all get very immersed in the game, majority of the people I talk to seem to have one common problem. Why do we keep hiring foreign nationals time after time for the position of head coach for the Black Stars? The argument seems to be that we have qualified Ghanaian nationals who can do the job [if not better] and who put in their own bids for the position whenever there is an opening. It is quite comical, in my opinion, that we get preached to by the government to patronise "Made In Ghana" products and services when we are blatantly being shown that there is no trust in the professionals we have. Foreign firms are hired for projects that local firms can handle. Thousands to millions of Ghanaian Cedis are paid to foreigners and yet there are complaints about low/lack of funds for other things. This is very disconcerting and it irates me even more that we find other things like new music releases in the West given more precedence in the news over local issues. We can only start from somewhere. As we celebrate and promote unity in the country and on the continent as a whole due to football, let us probe these issues and prove to the world that; yes, we are Africans, but we are NOT only all about football.