More experienced players needed in Black Stars - ex-Ghana striker Annor Aziz

Posted On Tuesday, 19th February 2013

Black Stars lacked experienced players, says Annor Aziz

Germany based Uefa Licence B coach, Annor Aziz, believes the inclusion of some experienced players will make the Black Stars formidable again for the challenges ahead.

The former Ghanaian international said after watching the team’s performance at the just ended AFCON 2013 in South Africa, he came to the conclusion that the team would be home and dry with a touch of experience.`

“The team did well, but the young players need some experienced players to push them,” he stressed.

In an exclusive interview with the Graphic Sports yesterday, the former Hearts of Oak and Goldfields (now Ashantigold) goal poacher therefore suggested the inclusion of tested players such as Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari and the Ayew brothers, Dede and Jordan, to beef up the team for the remaining Brazil 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

But for the lapse, he was of the view that the Black Stars could have won the Nations Cup for the 5^th time.

As a technical man, he thinks Coach Kwasi Appiah did not do badly in his first major tournament as the Stars head coach.

“The coach is okay; he did well. He played his part and the players were also expected to do their part,” he noted.

Annor Aziz is back home on holidays after an eight-year sojourn in Germany.

A potent striker in his heyday, Aziz was transferred to Poland by hearts during the 1994-1995 season at a time he was leading the goal king race after the first round of the league.

From Poland, he moved to South America before injury ended his blossoming career in the German Bundesliga.

As destiny would have it, his two sons-Faisal and Malik- have taken after him in the typical striking role and are currently playing for some lower division clubs n Germany.

He is thrilled by the performance rate of his sons and is quite optimistic that they will make the headlines in the near future.

After paying his dues in Germany as an assistant coach for some experienced trainers and also handling some junior teams, Annor Aziz wants to settle in Ghana and coach so he can impart his knowledge to local players and help develop Ghana Soccer.

Source: Graphic Sports

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READERS COMMENTS

boamah says:

February 19, 2013 at 4:40 am

That is Good we need some good coaches back home to help our local players and teams.All the best.

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boamah says:

February 19, 2013 at 4:45 am

Appiah Himself should have been taken out for some Good training instead of giving him money to just travel around the world and look at how players are doing at their clubs abroad.

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lalasu says:

February 19, 2013 at 6:02 am

l dont understand u guys when u say experienced players. the experienced players we have are aging n supposedly good ones we have, have never experienced major tournaments…so where are the experienced ones?

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Tanko says:

February 19, 2013 at 7:19 am

@lalasu: Annor Aziz did mention some names such as Essien, Muntari and the Ayew brothers. Indeed those mentioned are highly tested and experienced

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Sam says:

February 19, 2013 at 7:33 am

Jordan is not an experience player,he dont even perform well when he is playing for Black stars.

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Die hard Black Star fan says:

February 19, 2013 at 9:14 am

@lalasu, I agree with u, the experienced BS are aging and the good ones never had major tournament experience. It is high time that GFA and AA sit down and call players based on merits. Look at our striking department, dead horses, I thought clottey would have made a difference BUT he was even worse than Gyan. Also our defense, At LB we have nana asare,David Addy, they play quality football for their clubs in Europe and are first choice LB (David addy is, asare plays midfield most of the time) but yet AA left them out. LB is BS problem it is time they call one natural left footed player and groom him into that position, my first choice would be D.addy as he has had past experience with some of the boys at u20 and BS. AA pls do something. We all want the best for our beloved Black Stars. God bless Ghana

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Don Justy says:

February 19, 2013 at 12:01 pm

Hahahaaa! Aziz u’ve made my day. Tell me, since when did jordan ayew n dede become xperience players? I cld sense ur level of thinking. I want to noe frm u coach, which comes first? Work b4 xperience, or xperiece b4 work? If one is not offered the opportunity, how will he acquire the needed xperince? So now, fatau dauda is an xperidced player, right? Then we might as well call, abedi pele, c k akunnor, tony yeboah, frank amankwaah, odartey, polo etc, bcos they are more xperienced. Coach, i cld sense that u wanted to advertise urself….say somefing better next tym…

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AfricanNinja says:

February 19, 2013 at 5:33 pm

I laugh everytime I hear someon justify mediocrity by calling for the inclusion of so called experienced players. It is the same in our politics….Ghanaians are always using experience as the answer to all problems but Mr. Aziz Ansah and your supporters..you are dead wrong. How many AFCONS have these experienced players won? Since 1982, the closest we got to the cup was in 1992, and after that we continued to underachieve till 2012 when we used a team filled with over 80% of our U20 players ( Essien was injured during the 2010 toruney so he didnt contribute). Then in 2010 we decided to bring back the so called experienced players and we got to semis, an then in 2013 we went for politics, some youth, and healthy experienced players ( Muntari, Mensah, etc were left out because they werent fit but we took annan , boateng and Gyan who were out of form….). In 2013, we chose to not even consider guys like Nana Akwasi Asre, the best left back Ghana has got, Alfred Duncan, Mahjeed Warris, Isaac Coffie, David Addy, Jerry Vandam, Baba Rahman And the Ayews. Appiahs downfalll at the AFCON was because he had only one fit central midfielder – Rabiu

Agymang Badu had a piss poor tournament….he fitness levels were very bad. I have neve seen a player at that level hold his knees in respite after 60 mins of play.

Annan wasnt match fit…He hasnt played a full competitive game in months. Derrick baoteng was also in the same boat as Annan. So in every game our DMS, and CMS struggled to provide cover for the Central Defenders.

As for guys like Pantsil and Gyan the least said about them the better….At this point in their careers they are not balck star players

So lets stop opining for experienced players who never won anything in the past….and are part of the established culture of patronage and mediocracy

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