Fans have questioned the quality of Ghana’s Under-20 team, Black Satellites, following their distressing elimination from the ongoing FIFA World Youth tournament in New Zealand.
The Satellites were totally outclassed to a clobbering 3-0 defeat by their West African counterparts at the 1/16th stage of the competition – a defeat that dazzled many connoisseurs of the game.
It is the Satellites’ worst performance at the world stage since Ghana first made its stunning appearance in Australia ’93 where they finished second to Brazil.
According to the fans, who spoke to the Times Sports on Wednesday during the outstanding First Capital Plus Premier League game between Accra Hearts of Oak and Ashantigold SC, the Satellites is bereft of first-rate players.
“If you take a critical look at the team, you would agree with me that we do not have a lot of quality players as we had in previous tournaments.
“For me, this is the worst assemblage of young men representing Ghana at any level,” says 32-year-old Kwame Poku, a petty trader. Many other fans re-echoed this assertion as they pointed particularly to players such as Osei Barnes, Emmanuel Ntim and David Atanga, who have “no business being in the final team.”
For Lawrence Amartey, a former player of Kokompe Iron Breakers, the appointment of Coach Sellas Tetteh as the Satellites trainer was a wrong decision.
“Sellas has seen it all by leading the Satellites to World Cup victory in 2009, so he is no more hungry to carve another niche for himself. He has become complacent and that’s why I thought the team should have been handled by a new coach with the desire for success on a big stage like the World Cup,” he added.
That notwithstanding, the fans lauded the efforts of goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi, and midfielders Godfred Donsah and Yaw Yeboah as well as striker Samuel Tetteh, saying “they are the players for the future.”
Meanwhile, former Accra Hearts of Oak coach, Mohammed Polo has accused National U-20 head coach Sellas Tetteh for selecting over aged players for the 2015 FIFA U 20 World Cup tournament in New Zealand, reports ghanasportsonline.com.
The outspoken Polo claims Sellas Tetteh’s team failed woefully because majority of his players for the tournamnent had past their primes.
Ghana were well and truly beaten by a more energetic and more motivated Malian side by 3 unanswered goals.
Malian young sensation Dieudonne Gbakle scored a cracker in between goals from Samassekou and Doumbia to bundle out favorites Ghana from the competition.
The defeat meant Ghana fail to reach the last eight of the competition for the first time in history.
” In my opinion I believe Sellas Tetteh called too many over aged players and you cannot run away from that truth”,
“I think that was the main reason for our abysmal performance in the under-20 world cup in New Zealand.”
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