Black Stars’ new era begins with rejuvenated coaching staff

Out with the old, in with the new. Although Otto Addo will not necessarily be considered a fresh mind. This is effectively a reintroduction. Addo’s return to the Black Stars was inevitable.

There had been huge impressions made on key members of the Ghana Football Association in his stint as interim head coach of team in the final stretches of the 2022 World Cup.

There were attempts to get him to stay on after the World Cup in Qatar, but Addo was adamant. Now he comes back with new faces to fill the seats in the Black Stars technical dugout.

There were concerns within the Football Association when Addo reportedly demanded to name the entire backroom staff during his newly signed 34-month contract. The decision-makers at the FA wanted to have their person within the technical setup. So, a compromise was reached. Addo brings in Joseph Luaman, and Kurt Okraku and his colleagues have thrown their bone of support to him with John Paintsil and Fatau Dauda as assistant coach and goalkeeper’s trainer.

Addo is mercurial in his approach to football management but in many ways, he is a steady man. Having the intestinal fortitude to make tactical decisions and player selections were key talking points during Addo’s maiden tenure as a head coach of a team. He has learned his system the German way. He has developed a key sense of combining strictness in the football game and an approachable personality that endears his players to him.

However, to achieve glory in a senior national football team, Addo needs more than these spirited virtues. He needs to look back on match days and confidently reason with tactical minds that help turn a losing game into victories or maintain a lead. That is where Joseph Lauman steps in.

Otto Addo had a 33% win rate in his previous stint as the Black Stars coach.#3SportsGH pic.twitter.com/2QeqQyEhnA

— #3Sports (@3SportsGh) March 15, 2024

Lauman is an unknown quantity to the Ghanaian football fraternity. He has never been part of a national team technical setup but has been part of English Championship side Barnsley’s technical brains before switching to Belgium. Before responding positively to Otto Addo’s call, Lauman has been the lead trainer of Standard Liege’s academy side.

He is adept with working with young players and that is where Addo will count on him the most considering the age profile of the current Black Stars pool.

Lauman will be a good asset to Addo. But does he bring an A-list knowledge of the African game to the table? Perhaps that explains why the GFA hopes to support Addo with a local brain who will also be their ear and eye in technical meetings.

Enter Joseph Paintsil. Paintsil returns to the Black Stars as an assistant coach, his most high-profile job post his playing days. Paintsil has in the last couple of years began a fledging football academy in Accra, providing the right tutelage for aspiring footballers.

The former full-back who spent six years in England with West Ham, Fulham, and Leicester City, also comes in with a wealth of experience as a player although there are concerns, he will struggle to adjust to the demands of top international football competitions.

Addo will also be supported by Fatau Dauda who has taken up the goalkeeper’s trainer job at Sudan alongside compatriot and former Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah. The 38-year-old has utilized the last few years productively, collecting his coaching badges and readying himself for such a role. Dauda replaces Richard Kingson who led the goalkeeping department of the Black Stars for the three years. Dauda will be expected to improve the performances of Ghana’s goalkeepers in upcoming matches and tournaments.

The games against Nigeria and Uganda in the next two international friendlies are the first tests awaiting Otto Addo and his newly assembled technical team, although a permanent role begins later in May. That means Addo will return to Dortmund to continue his work as a trainer scout in the Bundesliga.

When he takes up the role permanently, his first duty will be to lead Ghana to battle against Mali in Bamako. Until then, fingers will cross, expectations will rise, and a dream achievement of finally nailing the African Cup of Nations will be borne again by local football enthusiasts. Addo, remains the FA’s favourite, a darling boy, and the go-to person when success is craved. He and his team, are ready, perhaps to conquer Africa in the months to come.

The post Black Stars’ new era begins with rejuvenated coaching staff first appeared on 3News.

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