All is not good for Black Stars right now. Otto Addo recently resigned as the coach of the team after Ghana’s abysmal performance at the just-ended FIFA World Cup in Qatar and the team needs to turn the results around soon.
Hearts Of Oak Coach Slavko Matic is thought to be keen on taking over Black Stars and that’s just a fantastic idea.
Here are four reasons why Matic taking over Black Star’s job would be amazing for every Ghanaian.
Relationship with the Media
The Black Stars job is notoriously high-pressure, and if the Ghanaian media doesn’t take to you then this pressure becomes even greater.
An example of this is Kwesi Appiah. From the very start of his reign, radio stations started a vendetta-like campaign to scrutinize his every decision. The media and public found it difficult to warm up to his demeanor and personality.
With Matic, you have a dynamic character—one who is animated on the sidelines.
His interviews and press conferences are carried out with the class. He is the type of manager you would want representing your club, or in this case, country. Although I’m sure they will try, the Ghanaian tabloids will find it difficult to put down any elements of his personality.
Fluent English
One of the main reasons the FA and the Ghanaian public desire a homegrown manager is a fact that they speak the language fluently.
Once again, I will use Milovan Rajevac as an example—when he first came to Ghana he could barely string two sentences of comprehensible English together.
This creates a barrier between him and the players, but it also makes it harder for the fans and the media to talk to him.
Slavko Matic doesn’t have this problem. His English is near perfect, and he will have no trouble communicating with anyone in Ghana.
Man Management Skills
It can be argued that Matics hasn’t had to do much since he took over Hearts of Oak and that he inherited the best side in Ghana, and just let them get on with it.
However, in a team that has as many class performers as Hearts of oak, it can be difficult to keep cohesion and make sure all the players are motivated to play to their full potential every game.
He has managed to get the best out of all of his players individually and simultaneously made the team work better as a unit.
Some of the bigger names in the Ghana squad have often been criticized for not giving their all in international games and putting their clubs first.
This is where Slavko Matic man management and motivation skills would come in very useful. If he can make the higher caliber players in the team perform to their fullest this will have a trickle-down effect on the rest of the squad.
Team Selection
Matic has also become a true master at team selection. Almost without fail, he knows which 11 players to choose for every opponent, even if his team is riddled with injuries, he is still able to make the correct team choices.
While this may seem easy, it still takes the right eye to know which players will cause the most danger to your opponent. Matic has a serious knack for this, and it has been proven to be a skill that has won his team many games that people didn’t think they could win.
This season, barring a serious crash in form and multiple losses, Matic has aided Hearts of Oak to win certain matches that supporters and the masses thought would have been impossible to win comes with ease. Considering their form, this season could finally be the one that Hearts of Oak will the Ghana Premier League after missing out last season to arch-rival Asante Kotoko, only time will tell.
