Black Satellites Eye Third Trophy

By: Eldickson Agbortogo

After a one all tie against the Junior Lions of Cameroon, the Black Satellites of Ghana have steadily sailed to the finals of the U-20 Nations Cup in Rwanda. The Ghanaians commanded by Andre Ayew, son of ace striker Abedi Pele have been very enterprising in their style of play. Thanks to their vivacity and rapid play style in all compartments, espacially at the flanks, they have been able to outsmart their opponents with Adiyiah Dominic and Ransford Osei, on hand to net in the much needed goals.

At the midfield and defence, head coach Sellas Tettah who has so far stayed on his traditional anglo-saxon play style of 4-4-2, has prescribed short passes and great man-to-man mobility. This technique has yielded a lot of dividends as the team has been one of the most prolific in the tournament with nine goals scored and one conceded since the start of the competition.

A performance which has been acclaimed by the Ghanaian population including the Head of State John Atta Mills, who sent a congratulatory message to the players, technical team and management personnel for qualifying to play the World Cup and final stage. Whiles showing his gratitude for the performance of the Black Satellites, the President has promised the entire team a financial package for qualifying for World Youth Championship after having missed out since 2001.

Ghana has claimed two youth football titles and are anxious for a third after two successive failed attempts at qualifying for the age-category competition. The Black Satellites last took part in the Africa Youth Championship during the 2003 edition in Burkina Faso where they couldn’t go past the group stage.

It should be noted that apart from qualification for the semi-finals, the pool phase also served as qualifiers for the 2009 World Youth Championship to be hosted by Egypt in September. Africa will be represented by five teams; Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. While Egypt qualifies as the host country.