It may sound a cliche the view that there are no longer minnows in football. And it is, indeed, as the game of football in these times is no respector of teams or their antecedents.
That is why it baffles us when people who are expected to know better tend to take the dangerous path with suggestions such as the Black Stars could enter any game without much consideration of the calibre of players that they line up.
Rwanda may appear traditionally inferior to Ghana, four times champions of Africa and three times World Cup participants, but that is not enough reason for us to think that the Amavubis will be no contest even if the Stars face them any day with half strength.
That the Stars beat them 1-0 on their own grounds earlier to seal qualification for the AFCON in Gabon next year must have added to the apparent disrespect by some that players of the local league be used against them. But this is unfortunate.
It sounds illogical and quite absurd that the same local league that has been impugned for its lack of quality and all the balderdash should be the source of players to fill the boots of the foreign-based stars.
As we indicated last Wednesday and would want to repeat, it is good that move was killed at birth and thrown into the dustbin by the patriotism exhibited by some of the foreign-based players themselves who sponsored their own flights for the match.
What is crucial is that tomorrow’s match against Rwanda is as important as a match against any reputable African side as Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia or Senegal for anybody to wish it away.
For the uninitiated, it is our performance and the victories that we pull continually over our opponents that determine our ranking on the continent and the world in general.
Therefore, it behoves the Stars to put on their all-conquering form to place Rwanda where they belong, despite the absence of the captain and his vice.
Doubtless, the impact of Asamoah Gyan and Andre Dede Ayew will be sorely missed, but it is for the rest of the players to prove that, indeed, the Amavubis do not deserve to face the full complement of the Stars in Accra.