Dear coach CK,

The primary focus of soccer philosophy or style of play is to develop technically and tactically-sound players capable of making confident and proper decisions within the flow of a game. Therefore, from the earliest ages, coaches emphasize both smart decision-making (tactical) AND correct technique (technical) to gain confidence and improve execution in the game environment.

In management there is something call long and short term plan. The moment you start thinking long term with short term solutions, my caoch you are in for a trouble, infact a big trouble in little Ghana.

To have a philosophy or style of play for a country, it!! takes a holistic approach beyond just tactical and technical orientation. You need a vibrant and independent technical directorate, good infrastructure and above all some huge budget to ensure consistency in style of play that would cut across all the national teams. Germany and perhaps Spain can be a good case study for the issue at hand. Real money was dedicated to get these two countries where they are today.

I would like to applaud the Black Star coach CK for even thinking of having a style of play for Ghana, but would be quick to add he should consult his predecessor Coach Appiah for some learning on how to go about managing the genesis of his direction.

As BlackStar coach, I do not know the level of influence you have over the other national teams, I m saying this because the other national teams would play an integral role in making your dream of having a style of play for Ghana a reality. In any case let me ask, dont we have a style of play as a country?.

Progressive possession” style of play, keeping possession of the ball for the purpose of finding and exploiting opportunities to attack forward whenever possible is the modern day style of play. Teams are expected to build attacks from the back, which means utilizing our goalkeeper and defenders to cycle the ball and switch the point of attack to find areas of the field where we hold numerical superiority. As the ball is moved up the field and closer to our opponent’s goal, we encourage players to show more creativity and take 1v1 or 2v1 chances to generate scoring chances. When the ball is lost, we want player to instantly transition to a defensive mentality of pressing quickly and winning the ball back as soon as possible to limit counterattacks. Spain is known for this style of play. Is this what you are referring to as a style of play Ghana should adopt.

Well there is a school of thought, that thinks it would be a big disaster as Africans to start playing like the Europeans. The reason is that, they are better than us in the way they play. They have all the necessary tools, infrastructure, technical and tactical know how to develop their players from their young age to competitive football. So they would always beat us to their style of play. Example, Senegal did not play like Europeans when they beat France in a world cup game, I can go on and on with examples.

Coach CK, is good to think about a philosophy of play or style of play as a long term plan, but you have African cup of nations to win for Ghana, world cup to qualify etc as a short term plan. Your ability to distinguish long term and short term plan with your approach would determine your stay as the Black Star coach. Wish you all the best.

Your friend

Coach Osumanu Seidu

Regards.