REFEREES DON'T WIN FOOTBALL GAMES.

Tunisian ref. Slim Jedidi

Despite the best efforts of the tunisian referee the Black-Stars of Ghana couldn't stand the might of the Burkinabes. Tunisian referee Slim Jedidi who delivered perhaps the worst performance in a football match since Tom Henning Øvrebo(Chelsea v Barca).

HOW MANY GHANAIANS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHT-BULB?
Ans : If you are lucky, 11plus a tunisian referee.

Firstly he denied Burkina a blatant penalty in the opening stages and followed it up with a soft penalty decision for Ghana that saw Mubarak Wakaso bag his fourth goal of the tournament. He however denied Asamoah Gyan- a penalty when the  Al--Ain man dropped in the box. Secondly he disallowed a burkinabe winner with the game at 1-1, after Ghana goalie Fatau Dauda had  rushed out only to have the ball toe-poked past him into the twine. Thirdly, and in my personal opinion his most cruel decision he sent-off Jonathan Pitroipa for what he deemed to be simulation. That was the Rennes man second yellow card which means he will miss the final against the Super-Eagles of Nigeria unless CAF performs an unlikely miracle and rescinds the decision.

DID TACTICAL COCK-UPS COST GHANA?

1. John Painstil got injured in the opening stages which resulted in an enforced substitution with Solomon Asante coming on. Asante came on in midfield which resulted in Kwadwo Asamoah being shifted to left-back and Harrison Afful being moved to riht-back. For all Asante's hard-running and industry he is not the creative force that Asamoah is.

2. In the first-half of the game Mohammed Rabiu who was the midfield enforcer attracted a yellow-card and looked a red-card waiting to happen. He was subbed early in the second-half and Derek Boateng came on. He lacked the bite and youthful exuberance of Rabiu in tackling and for the rest of the game the Burkinabe's owned the midfield.

3. With the game heading for a penalty shoot-out, Kwasi Appiah made the inexplicable decision of taking of the best penalty taker in the team: Wakaso and bringing on Emmanuel Clottey. As a Ghanaian, it was predictable and painful to watch as Isaac Vorsah stepped-up to take the first spot-kick. To the player that(name with-held, my mum said i shouldn't mention him) ducked the spot-kick, i think it's time that as a country we searched for a replacement.  

Aristide Bance

Who knew he had it in him to try such a cheeky panenka spot-kick at such a crucial moment in the game. He was at times wasteful as the game progressed but never seemed to tire and he also put himself about well which resulted in him equalising the goal and being named man of the match. A friend at the viewing centre actually proposed an electricity for Bance swap between Ghana and Burkina Faso given that we provide 39% of their electricity supply.

The 31-year wait continues as the Black-Stars return to the proverbial and worn-out drawing board with only their massive winning bonuses to show for their effort.