For the high standards set by Ghana football, qualifying for the senior’s World Cup has become part of the assignments lined up for the Black Stars to achieve every four years.
Since the breakthrough in their debut tournament in 2006, Ghana after past failures is bent on making a second successive appearance at the biggest football tournament.
Qualifying for the 2006 tournament in Germany was achieved by the efforts of not only the playing and technical members of the team but with the equal support of administrative managers (FA), corporate bodies (team’s sponsors) and government.
Back in 2005, the FA put in place a plan to ensure Ghana ended years of despair as the Black Stars qualified for the first time to play at the World Cup finals.
The Ghana Football Association’s structured arrangement received enormous backing from government to achieve that historic feat.
Next month, the Black Stars will be presented with another opportunity to reach the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa when the African zone qualifiers begin.
Ahead of the start of the qualifiers, government is backing the Black Stars’ qualification to the finals of the tournament which comes to Africa for the first time since its inception back in 1930.
Speaking at his first State of the Nation Address on Thursday, Ghana’s President, Prof. J.E.A Mills, whiles touching on his administration’s broader plans for the development of sports, highlighted the Black Stars’ World Cup campaign, a major itinerary on the nation’s calendar.
“The government in collaboration with the Ghana Football Association will put in place measures to ensure that Ghana once again qualifies for the World Cup (2010 World Cup).
“And not only that, that Ghana secures a place in the last four - the semi-final and the finals,” the President told the nation in Parliament on Thursday.
The quest for another World Cup qualification for Ghana - who reached the round of sixteen at their debut finals in 2006 - starts with a home game against Benin on March 29.
But for government, an improved performance after qualification is achieved will put Ghana on a different pedestal.
“The ultimate target of the Government is to draw up and execute a strategic plan that will aim at Ghana capturing the commanding heights of not only sports in Africa but the world as a whole,” the President said as he summed up his plans for sports.