As he prepared his team for their opener against Panama in Toronto on Wednesday, Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz was in a philosophical mood.
"The final outcome of football is always a mystery", offered the coach, who is looking forward to his . "There is no formula and that is why it's still so special after all these years. How much are you committed on the day of the game?"
You didn't need to read between the lines to sense how he rates Ghana's commitment. "We're strong and we'll showcase our strengths in the game", Queiroz said. "Panama is a well organized team and we hold them in high regard because they are competitive. We have good solutions to their strengths and will try to expose the weaknesses they have."
The 73-year-old has packed plenty into a long and illustrious career: assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, head coach of Real Madrid and Portugal, and the man on the touchline for IR Iran at three World Cup finals. Now he is keen to make all that knowledge count – though not without a word of caution.
"One thing I took from my past experiences is that there is a difference between a good decision and the right decision," he said. "It's not always something that you can know at the time. Sometimes you make the right decision and it doesn't turn out that way.
"I learned quite a bit from coaches, from players, and I believe that this is now an opportunity for me to consider and really put together everything that I've worked for, every decision I've made," continued Queiroz. "I hope God gives me the inspiration to make the right decisions, to use my experience and everything that I've learned in my life so that I can take the right decisions at the right time."
Just as the journalists in the Toronto media room were settling in for the grand finale of Queiroz's musings, he brought everyone back down to earth: "At the end of the day, football is a very simple game, and I don't like to overcomplicate it. The only thing that we're thinking about is winning. If you do it through the air, if you do it on the right side, on the left side, all that doesn't matter. We just have to find a path to victory."
Helping to guide them along that path will be a large contingent of Ghana supporters, who gave the team a spectacular welcome on their arrival in Toronto on Monday. Having done all he can to motivate his players with words, Queiroz can't wait for a different source of inspiration: "I hope that during the game we will hear the drums of Ghana for 90 minutes and let them accelerate the beat of our hearts."
Sources: FIFA Official
