Thursday, July 02, 2009

Hearts are the Presidential champs + Salou chokes en Europa

Today the blog is a bit late. One or two things held me back.

So Accra Hearts of Oak are champions of the President's Cup.

But today I wanna speak on something else.

Before the Egypt 2006 Nations’ Cup and the Germany World Cup later that year, Ghanaians were barraged with a plethora of names who were ‘the perfect choice’ for the national team.

Some were lucky; others, not.

Ibrahim Salou was one of the unlucky ones. However, it was interesting how certain media persons in Ghana gave him the hype.

Two years down the line, the lad has fallen so far off the radar in Europe that he is struggling to find his place on any team. The lad was a heavily sought after commodity by then coach Ratomir Dujkovic to complement his striking options.

At the time, Salou was contemplating either representing Ghana or Belgium since he was eligible to play for both teams. Belgium did not make it to the World Cup, Ghana did. But it was too late to take him because there were others who had committed to playing for Ghana in the qualifiers.

Since then, he has struggled and has played a meager 12 games in the last two seasons. What a far cry from the Salou that was a top man for Belgian giants Club Brugges. He played 48 games there in two seasons and scored five.

He left last year for MSV Duisburg in Germany where he played six games and onwards to Vejle Boldklub early this year. Now at age 30, time’s not on his side and he has to cement himself in a good team before his prime passes.

Maybe he would get a call-up back to Ghana where he was born or to Belgium, where he possesses nationality.

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