Ghanaian teams under fire as Black Satellites lose to Nigeria
By Peterking Quaye with support from Ghana web, Asempa Radio – Ghanaian teams have in recent days come under fire for their poor performances, blaming the Ghana Football Association unequal attention to all the teams.
Black Satellite Player and Nigeria player
In an interview on a local radio station Vice President of the Ghana Football Association, Fred Pappoe said all the national teams are treated fairly.
Soccer fans share the view that the current Ghana Football Association under the leadership of Kwasi Nyantakyi is concentrated more on the Black Stars at the expense of the other national teams – a situation which has led to poor outings by the seemingly neglected teams.
But Mr. Pappoe told a local radio station ,Asempa Sports in an interview on Tuesday April18th ,2011 that all the national teams are given the necessary attention and equal opportunities. According to him, the only difference is the payment of winning bonuses which varies from team to team and that the FA does not discriminate in granting the requests put in by the various national teams.“Even in situations where some of the requests are not justifiable, the Football Association looks into it for the teams to have the necessary preparations”.
Satellites winning team
On the issue of who should be blamed for the abysmal performances of our national teams excluding the Black Stars, Mr. Pappoe said that the players cannot be blamed since they don’t enter the teams unless there is a call up from a coach. Mr. Pappoe stated that the Ghana Football Association does not contract the coaches but the Ministry of Youth and Sports which engages them.
According to him, the coaches cannot use the unavailability of a permanent contract as an excuse and advised them to walk out if they are not satisfied.
In a related development, Holders Ghana got off to a bad start at the African Youth Championship (AYC) when they were defeated 2-1 by arch rivals Nigeria on Monday.Innocent Uche Nwafor scored both goals for the Flying Eagles in Group B to secure their first ever win over the Black Satellites.
The Enugu Rangers attacker put Nigeria in the lead in the 17th minute after controlling a pass from Abdul Jeleel Ajagun before firing past goalkeeper James Acheampong.
Ghana restored parity through lanky striker Kwame Nsor in the 32nd minute as he rose highest to power a header beyond goalkeeper Paul Danjuma. Nwafor sealed the victory with only eight minutes remaining as his mistimed strike managed to squirm under goalkeeper Acheampong to give the Flying Eagles a bright start in the tournament.
The victory was Nigeria’s first over Ghana at the AYC as they Black Satellites have won all their three previous encounters with their West African rivals in the tournament.
Ghana had defeated Nigeria 1-0 and 4-1 in the group stage of the 1993 and 2001 tournaments respectively and the Black Satellites beat the Flying Eagles in the final of the 1999 tourney.
Nigeria will be hoping to beat Cameroon in their next game on Thursday to keep alive their hopes of reaching the last four.
Ghana will revive their chances if they win their next group game with Gambia in Thursday’s other game. The four semi-finalists of the tournament will qualify for the Under-20 World Cup takes place in Colombia in July and August this year.
