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The return of Ghana's number one striker Asamoah Gyan to full fitness is indeed a welcoming sight for African football lovers across the globe. The main perceived weakness within the Black Stars set up is the striking department.
Matthew Amoah has performed admirably in this department in the past few months. His crucial away goals in the ANC/world cup qualification games against Sudan and Mali, helped ensure Ghana's safe passage into the world cup.
It is still a widely accepted belief that Ghana lacks the necessary fire power up front to be considered a legitimate contender for next years world cup. Aside from Amoah, Ghana has amongst her ranks Junior Agogo and Prince Tagoe.
Agogo, though always performing well for the Black Stars cannot be considered world class by any stretch of the imagination. After his recent contractual troubles with El Zamalek of Egypt, he has now only started playing for Apollon Limassol in Cyprus.
Prince Tagoe after securing a dream move to German top flight side Hoffenheim, is now dealing with contractual issues of his own. He is battling to get any kind of playing time.
As a result, the current surge of form and confidence shown by Gyan, whom many believe is the best Ghana has to offer, is exciting Black Star fans world wide.
His touch and technique has never been in doubt. Coupled with fantastic movement, Gyan has all the tools to become a world class striker. Indeed Ghana's current coach Milovan Rajevac labelled him as such after the recent friendly with Japan in Utrecht.
There is however a big BUT in this line of thinking. The most natural attribute a striker has in his locker is composure in front of goal. Gyan has everything else BUT composure in front of goal. This has led many to question whether he is indeed a 'natural' striker. One that is or can strive to become world class.
Season, 2009/10, has started brightly for Gyan. He's scored four goals for his club Rennes and bagged a brace for the Black Stars against Japan. In a recent interview, he stated that "in the past, I have always played well and had done everything else required of a striker. However the goals never came the way they should have."
Thus he believed taking responsibilty for converting penalties, from which he's scored twice this season, would propell him into scoring more frequently. For as he rightly stated, "strikers are judged by the number of goals they score". This approach seems to be working.
His abiliy as a footballer is not in doubt, what is currently in debate is whether the best position for him is as a striker, an attacking midfielder or even a wide player.
His performances as a striker for Rennes, in a world cup year, will go a long way in solving this puzzle.
Michael Dadzie |
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