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Riga's International Ambitions |
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| Born in Ghana Rahamat Riga Mustapha left Africa for the Netherlands as a child and represented his adoptive country in the Under-20 World Cup, but the hoped for senior cap never came. Riga decided that he wanted to change his international allegiance back to the land of his birth, but he ran into a snag; then Ghana coach Claude le Roy was not interested, so Riga missed the African Cup of Nations in the country of his birth and struggled by as his then club Levante fell into a deep financial crisis before the world entered the worst recession for many years. “He will never play for Ghana,” le Roy told Empower-Sport Magazine last year. “He is too old.” At twenty-six this seemed a very harsh assessment, especially as another Dutch youth international, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, succeeded in switching his allegiance to the Black Stars. Owusu-Abeyie was young enough and got clearance on the very eve of last year’s African Cup of Nations tournament and made his début for Ghana in the twenty-sixth edition of that tournament.
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International Ambitions (Part Two)
If Bolton was to get anything out of the game their manager Gary Megson had to be more adventurous and re-organise the shambolic defence. Another of Fulham’s summer captures, Ghanaian international John Pantsil, endeared himself further to his new fans by blocking Ricardo Gardner’s effort from the edge of the area. After six minutes Rahamat Riga Mustapha finally got his chance to impress Megson and further his international ambitions that had been revived by Claude le Roy’s decision to quit Ghana for Oman and new coach Milovan Rajevac expressing an interest in him, but Riga knew that his hopes of representing the Black Stars required playing time. He needed to impress, but two minutes later Bolton captain Kevin Nolan was deservedly booked for a rustic challenge on Jimmy Bullard that forced the Fulham midfielder off for treatment after telling Nolan exactly what he thought of his challenge. Nolan’s every touch was jeered from then on and the previous recipients of their derision were ignored. Shortly after Bullard returned to action to the cheers of Fulham’s supporters the ball broke to Simon Davies who let a twenty-five yard shot fly, but was denied by a fine save from the excellent Jussi Jääskeläinen.
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International Ambitions (Part Three)
Bolton got nothing out of their visit to Craven Cottage and their manager Gary Megson had little cause for complaint. “I think it would have been harsh on Fulham if we had of done, but we got ourselves back in it with ten minutes to go,” he said. Bobby Zamora scored a fantastic goal, but Megson preferred blaming his defence for allowing him to shoot in the first place. “It was a good goal from Fulham’s point of view and Bobby’s,” he said. “Our defending was poor. The ball’s gone down the side; we should make sure it stays wide. Danny Shittu’s let him inside and the cover from Grétar Steinsson wasn’t quick enough. We had opportunities to make sure that he didn’t even get the opportunity to shoot. It wasn’t good enough.”
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Riga's Ambitions are Crushed |
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International Ambitions (Part Four)
Almost a month before Bolton returned to London to face West Ham Rahamat Riga Mustapha had failed to impress his manager Gary Megson and received a public rebuke in his manager’s press conference after the defeat by Fulham. “He really has got to learn how to play football in this country,” said Megson. “He carries the ball well and he wants to score all the goals, but there’s got to be another side to his game when we haven’t got the ball and he must adapt to the way that we play, because it can’t happen the other way around.” It was a stinging criticism, but Riga was hoping for better luck when Bolton visited West Ham’s Boleyn Stadium, but had to settle for a place on the bench despite the lack of match-fitness of Megson’s first choice striker the Swedish international Johan Elmander.
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