Kofi Owusu Aduonum
16 July 2008
After a steamy and cagey hockey encounter involving Ghana's U-21 male hockey side and their South African counterparts, many were those who left the Cairo Stadium convinced that Ghana hockey has come of age. The free scoring South Africans, who incidentally are the defending champions, came into the game as pre match favourites.
The South Africans had scored 37 goals in two games as against Ghana's 20. Their impressive goal scoring feat confirmed their superiority over Ghana, in both the senior and junior levels, having won all their games against Ghana. And true to the ' bookmakers prediction, Ghana lost gallantly to their South Africa opponents by 2-3.
However, that did little to take away the credit from the Ghanaians as the better side, though they had all odds stuck against them, since they were playing under flood light and on a water-based pitch for the first time.
The South African coach, Kurt Cerfontyne, after the game remarked that "We knew it was going to be cagey, but didn't expect such a challenge. "Your boys really gave us a tough time, and they made us work incessantly throughout the entire 70 minutes, but for the two bad penalty corners, you would have carried the day," the coach added.
For coach Cerfontyne, the 3-2 score line and the classic match sold to the fans, is a clear indication that African hockey in general and Ghana in particular, have come full circle and needed to be given the necessary push.
He recounted years gone by when South Africa recorded cricket score lines against Ghana, but there seem to be an improvement in Ghana hockey, he confessed
Apart from Coaches Boakye Yiadom and his able lieutenant Eddie Odamitey, who could not believe that Ghana was on the losing side, some of the Ghanaian officials and Egyptian hockey fans praised the team profusely.
The men who did the nation proud were goalkeeper Ben Taylor, Theophilus(Protocol) Annang, Nii Kojo Ababio, Charles Abbiw, Richard "Cisc" Adjei, Robert Ayeetey, Emmanuel Morrison, skipper Shadrack Baah, Titus Mills, Godsway Balagy, Leslie Boarnor, Obed Asante, Nicholas Hanson, Osman Abubarkar and Isaac Coffie.
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