Leroy To Engage Sadat Bukari?

Black Stars coach Claude Le Roy knows that his current Black Stars side is one of the strongest teams Ghana has assembled in a long while. He is also aware that FIFA thinks Ghana is the ''best'' team in Africa even though that must be a mistake if one asks me or the Egyptians. The team will improve and many expect the current crop of players to peak just in time for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa. Yet the stark reality is that Junior Agogo and Asamoah Gyan aside, unless there are options and competition for striking roles, Ghana could play the most beautiful football but still fall short of getting the most needed results, goals. Sadat Bukari is a young man on a mission. He has attitude just like Agogo. But unlike Agogo whose mere physical presence sends defenders into panic, the deceptive frame of Bukari poses an all together different proposition. Le Roy's dilemna is whether Bukari can deliver NOW! The World Cup qualification campaign for Africa does NOT start in June as the fixtures state. The truth is that, any coach worth his certificate will admit the preparation starts now. Bukari believes he can deliver but he won’t say so, he wants to prove it. Having successfully recovered from a nasty groin injury and the surgery that followed, Bukari just wants to get on with playing football. Recently it was reported in the Tunisian press that the Ghanaian was on his way out of his club because he was unhappy. That may be difficult to believe because the striker has hit form on his return from a 3 month lay-off after the operation. The Nations cup miss was a big blow but after starting for his club in all matches four weeks ago, he has scored 3 goals including the important strike against Al-Hilal in the African Champions League. Admittedly, Bukari who is known to be on the ''very quiet side'' of being a footballer made his position clear to his club president and seems to have overcome the storm in the tea-cup. He has tried but given up playing down his reported $1 Million transfer from Ghana to the North African country. His Ghanaian team Kpando Heart of Lions could not say no to Tunisian giants, Étoile du Sahel (ESS). But there are strong indications that his price tag for the three-year contract might have been hyped or even exaggerated. But that is not a problem for the player, his is just to play. Mexico should provide that platform for the promising striker who was born in Wa, the Upper West Regional capital on April 12, 1989. On the pitch his stubbornness means that he will not be worried about having to silence his critics and prove himself worthy of whatever position he is given. If the debilitating injury had not curtailed what would surely have been his major Black Stars debut during the Ghana 2008, who knows what the headlines would have been? The Black Stars could provide the platform Sadat needs to answer his critics and perhaps more importantly, assert himself. After playing for his country in the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Peru Ghanaians may at last be getting closer to knowing the real Sadat Bukari. Wednesday March 26 at Craven Cottage’s match in London is expected to console Ghanaians and help soothe their disappointment at the Ghana 2008 failure. Meanwhile speaking to myghanafootball.com from his home in France, Coach Leroy said there is still room for new players. ''I never stop looking but my philosophy is to have a strong basis'', the coach said.