Black Stars
Ghana have a contract with PUMA, and their new kits should be out in January.
I have seen great footage of the Ghanians when they were one the best teams in the World in the 1950s and 1960s, and their kits had a HUGE black star across the back. I hope PUMA reasserts the identity.
The bookies are still recognized Ghana's potential to win the World Cup with William Hills quoting 200-1. I got them at 350-1 back in July. It's worth a fiver, lads.
I think 200-1 is a polite way of saying that Ghana are there for political, rather than footballing reasons, as were China.Originally Posted by Albert Stubbins
God, you don't half talk a whole load of crap.
Ghana were not formed as a team until 1957, having also played under the name of Gold Coast for unofficial internationals. Under either name, Ghana played in 15 games for the entire 1950s - that's one and a half games a year. And of those 15 games, 11 were played against Nigeria. They won 7, drew 2 and lost 6. This, is an era of the Magnificent Magyars of the 1950s, and the emergence of the great Brazilian team of the late 50s with Garrincha, Didi, Nilton Santos and a young Pele. (Club football did exist in Ghana from the early part of the century.) They were not on the same plain as the Uruguayan or Brazilian teams of 1950, the Hungarian or West German teams of 1954 or Brazil or France or even Sweden in 1958.
In the 1960s, Ghana played 65 games, not all official games and mainly against African opposition. They won 35 games, drawing 17 and losing 13. Here they won the African Nations Cup twice - once when host - in '63 and '65 finishing runners-up in '68. They also reached the Olympic QFs in 1964. And if you rule out unofficial internationals and non-African competition, in the 1960s, Ghana played 6 internationals, winning 2, drawing 2 and losing 2.
Those are not the results of a 'world class' side. There's no doubt that Ghana have been successful in Africa winning 4 or 5 African Nations Cups, but it is amazing to suggest, as has been said on other threads that Ghana have a better footballing pedigree than all countries except Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, England, Italy, Germany, and maybe the Czechs and Slovaks.
This is the first time Ghana have ever qualified for the WC, and to claim that they were ever one of the best teams in the world and better than say, Holland, is not just stretching reality, it's destroying it with a Star Trek quantum generator.
Last edited by Samarkand; October 14th, 2005 at 07:38 PM.
Is there really any need for such insults. Where's the moderator when you need him?
I stand by the statement about Ghana's footballs pedigree. Perhaps I would add Scotland to the list.
As for my hyperbole regarding Ghana's footballers in the 50s and 60s, I stand by it.
And I stand by prediction that Ghana will get to the World Cup Final in Germany next year.
Magnificent AlbertI'm off out now, the bookies has just opened
Liverpool is the capital of itself
Feeling delicate are we? Boo hoo. I didn't insult you but rather the crap, in my opinion, you are spouting.
Based on 15 games in 10 years in the 1950s, and 11 of those 15 against the same country, you said that Ghana were better than the Magnificent Magyars and a host of other countries. That's just crap as far as I'm concerned. And the mighty Ghana didn't have a significantly better record in the 60s, playing only 6 games outside of Africa and winning only 2 of those. And yet you feel that they were better than, say, Eusebio and the wonderful Portuguese for one. Again, more pure unadulterated crap. In my opinion.
You may well be right about Ghana being in the WC Final next year, but I will temper that prognostication with another of yours about the WC finals. You said Richie Partridge would be whippping in crosses for Ireland at Germany '06. Two problems: Partridge has never played for Ireland, and likely never will, and Ireland didn't qualify for the WC. Other than that you were spot on, though.
Where is Richie Partridge these days???
On the fringe of the Irish squad of course
Liverpool is the capital of itself
Delicate? I stand by opinion of Ghana over those two decades. Your statistics do not impress me. I believe I said Ghana were one of the best teams in the world in that time. I saw Italy beat the best in the world in the 1982. So what if the Ghanians lost a few games. They were in my view one of the greatest teams of that era. Better than Hungary, no. But better than most, no question.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks