Is Goran Stevanović the one?

Does the ace performance of the two past South-eastern European Black Star managers advocate for the appointment of their fellow countryman in a growing trend of a Ghana-Serbian football relations?

In the mist of what is almost turning out to be a tradition of Ghana employing Serbian coaches in the past few years, one may be tempted to ask if they are really the right guys for the coaching job.

It started with Ratomir Dujkovic, who was the first Serbian Coach to walk into Ghana and took up the coaching job between 2004 -2006. He led the Black Stars side which was captained by ‘the tornedo’ Stephen Appiah to the African Cup of Nations in 2006 in Egypt. The team’s performance in that tournament was nothing to write home about.
But the Serbian redeemed his image by qualifying the nation for its first ever World Cup in Germany that same year. The Stars put up a marvellous performance and were the only African Country to qualify to the round 16th of the tournament.

Milovan Rajevac, the next Serbian Coach earned a lot of criticism from Ghanaians not because of the team’s performance but because of his ‘one top’ style of play and the fact that he could not speak the English language. Then again, he gained a lot of praises from Football lovers all over the world as he led Ghana to the final stage in the 2009 CHAN tournament, 2010 African Cup of Nations where we were the loosing finalist and then to the quarter final stage 2010 World Cup which was held in South Africa, where we were the only African country to reach that far.

The two Serbian coaches, Ratomir Dujkovic and Milovan Rajevac upon taking up the job, never made any promises but delivered fairly.

The newly appointed Serbian coach Goran Stevanovic, who was the former coach of Partizan Belgrade, has promised to win trophies with the help of the Ghanaian side. He has also made known his style of play to be attacking football.
“We must play attacking and attacking football while being cautious in defence and I am sure we will achieve the results... I am here to build champions …and I’m certain that all of us want to be champions…”

It has been 30 years since Ghana last won the African Cup of Nations. The Black Stars were third in 2008, second in 2010. “It is now time for trophies. It is time to be first again,” Stevanovic said during his first press conference with the Ghanaian media.

Ghana has been depending on these Serbian coaches for quite some time now but the question is ‘Is Goran Stevanovic truly the one?’.
It is our hope and pray that he is able to fulfil his promises and bring Ghana the trophies.

Bismarck Nii Ogbamey Tetteh