Posted in News on Jun 30, 2006.
Frank was attending his fourth FIFA World Cup after attending FIFA World Cup in Italy 1990, USA 94, France 98 and the current FIFA World Cup being held in Germany.
The Chiefs assistant coach had the opportunity of watching a number of matches live as well as attending training sessions of various participating nations.
Frank believes that he has gained a lot from the FIFA World Cup and with coach Ernst Middendorp will implement a lot of new methods and tactics that he gained while in Germany.
Frank adds; “every professional coach should try and travel to the FIFA World Cup when it comes around, for me personally I learned a lot by attending matches and practice sessions”.
A lot has been said about the way Togo’s World Cup preparations were disrupted due to a pay dispute, a lot was not said about the manner in which African newcomers to the FIFA World Cup Angola went about their preparations for the tournament.
Frank said; “many people criticized Togo for the way their pay dispute was handled and they generalized by painting the rest of the African continent with the same brush.
I visited the Angolan camp on a number of occasions and for a country who does not have the resources of South Africa or Nigeria they paid their players well and were generally well organized and their results were not bad at all”.
Frank is now looking forward to setting the ball in motion with his newly acquired football knowledge and is confident that a lot of what he has picked up in Germany will work well with The Amakhosi.
The Chiefs assistant coach is disappointed that he was unable to extend his holiday so that he would be able to watch his home country take on Germany in Friday’s ¼ Final match in Berlin, which incidentally he had tickets for and had to give them to his wife and children, who went to the game instead.
