Ayew – Signing the Code of Conduct

Ghana’s Black Stars rolled off their Qatar 2022 World Cup campaign on Thursday against Portugal with an upshot that would unquestionably have many experts of the game talking.

It is the team’s fourth appearance at the Mundial.

The Stars are hoping to carve a gorgeous piece of football in the Arab land, and possibly retrace their halcyon moments which saw them book a quarter-final berth at the 2010 edition in South Africa.

As of the time of filing this piece, the Stars were lacing their boots for their second game against South Korea at the 45,350-capacity Education City Stadium, located in Al Rayyan.

South Korea’s Taegeuk Warriors have qualified for 10 consecutive World Cups, beginning with the 1986 competition. While normally exiting during the group stage, this team could easily reach the knockout stages as their Portuguese manager Paulo Bento, wields a strong roster of veteran players and younger European-based talent that will handle the twinkling lights of Qatar.

Qualification was a relative promenade. South Korea eased through Group H of the Asian Football Confederation’s second round with a 5-0-1 record, surrendering a single goal. The succeeding round was similarly perfunctory: a second-place finish in Group A with a 7-1-2 record, two points behind Iran. The challenging friendly slate over the past year should pay dividends at the final competition.

Ghana, on the other hand, struggled in qualification – only edging out Nigeria’s Super Eagles on the away-goal rule. But the Andre Ayew-led Ghana side have demonstrated in their 2-0 final brush-up win against Switzerland that they could only be underestimated at anybody’s peril.

The discipline, passion, poise, drive and the determination was fully showcased on the field and it is the expectation of Ghanaians that they sustain that virtue throughout their stay in the tournament.

In a bid to maintain this degree of discipline and avert the sins of Brazil 2014 where the Stars exited shamefully in the opening round – amid the scuffles that engulfed the camp, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) last week badgered on all the players, technical and management team to sign a Code of Conduct ahead of the game against Portugal two days ago. 

The Code, according to the GFA, enjoins them to be ethically upright, respectful and honest, to have a high level of Integrity, and to uphold the good name of the Black Stars, GFA and Ghana during their stay in Qatar for the global tournament.

It also defines the norms, rules, duties and responsibilities, or proper practices of each member as well as the collective behaviour of the team.

Indeed, Ghana’s run in Brazil was rocked by pervasive reports of indiscipline from officials and players – giving the Ghanaian contingent a dreadful, despicable image.

From their body language and demeanour, it does not look like repeating itself this time around – even before the contingent were made to sign the code.

For now, we can only continue to wish the team well, whilst we hope for the best from the players ahead of the games against South Korea on November 28 and Uruguay on December 2.

By John Vigah