Kickoff (Cape Town)
Michael Oti Adjei
12 August 2008
To understand the obscure nature of Ghana's new coach, try the trusted process of a Google search on Milovan Rajevic, writes KickOffGhana.com editor Michael Oti Adjei.
There is not much you will get from the search except for a few references to Uefa Cup football and his time at Vojvodina in his native Serbia and lines on him in relation to other players.
The Ghana Football Association promised a world class manager who will take Ghana to the World Cup. They spoke of pedigree, a proven track record, License A and all.
In the end what the GFA threw up for the national team was another unknown. For those in the know about Ghana football it is the same tale at a different time but one that does not necessarily suggest tough times ahead.
As Rajevic's name became the one and ended a long and sometimes laughable search for a coach, there were many people who would have heaved a sigh of relief. They would have done that not because Ghana has landed a so-called world class manager, but because it finally came to an end and because we can now concentrate on the important business of preparing for the 2010 World Cup qualifier against Libya in Tripoli on September 5.
Before then, though he will meet his players for the first time when they play Tanzania in Arusah. It will essentially be a meeting between a man Ghana is investing her national pride and passion in and the men who will be ultimately responsible for the results with their skills, passion and drive.
Would they care that the big name the GFA promised did not arrive? I suspect not.
They, like the rest of us would be used by now to a basic fact. This country regardless of the fine lines you read sometimes from officials does not have the financial clout to attract those at the top of world coaching and the search that ended proved that.
We spoke to Klaus Toppmoeller at some point. He said 'no'. And then Champions League winning coach with Red Stars Belgrade said 'no' to us. Ulli Stielike the former Ivory Coast coach preferred to look elsewhere. And even they are not the biggest names in the game.
The important factor in all this though was the money. The GFA was mighty close to appointing Josef Hickersberger until the finances scared them. Representatives of the Austrian insist he was prepared to take 40 000 Euro a month but that apparently did not move the GFA.
The 45 000 dollars that the Serbian will earn makes him the most expensive coach Ghana has appointed, but he will not be the first unknown who will be seeking international fame on the back of the Black Stars. Burkhard Ziese's troubled time on the African continent started in Ghana. Young and ambitious, he emerged from nowhere to take Ghana to the Nations Cup in 1992 after an eight-year absence.
And then when Ghana was ditched in bizarre circumstances by Milan Zivadinovic, the GFA settled for a certain Mariano Barreto who never lost an opportunity to remind us of a meeting with world Pele and his time working with Ottmar Hitzfield at Borussia Dortmund. He subsequently took us to Athens 2004 before putting the Black Stars on a really sound footing in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.
But the biggest unknown to strike it big here was Ratomir Dujkovic. Before he was introduced as Ghana coach Dujkovic had had spells in Burma and counted taking Rwanda to the Nations Cup in 2004 at the expense of Ghana as his biggest achievement. That is the equivalent of Jones Attuquayefio taking Benin to their first Nations Cup that same year.
Yet he revolutionarised the Black Stars, gave them new belief and took them to the 2006 World Cup on the back of some inspiring displays.
Did he work that because he was so brilliant as a manager? Partly because he deployed his resources well and did not toy too much with the composition of the team he met. He kept the core of the team, but his sack by China before the Olympics says everything about how the resources saw him through.
So while this may be another unknown, there is a proven history of them doing well here once the conditions are right. It would have been nice to have a big name manager. We craved for one. In the end we got a modest coach whose hunger may ultimately define how well the national team does.
Remember with Ghana, the obscure has a way of becoming big and famous and often walking out on us when they have become too big for our shoes.
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