Godwin Attram in action for Smouha FC in the Egyptian Premier League
By Akyereko Frimpong-Manson
Godwin Attram is the only member of the Ghana 1999 Under-17 squad member who is still playing top flight football.
The veteran striker, 31, enjoyed a blissful season with FC Smouha last season and hopes to improve his form this season.
Attram shares his experience at PSV and why he is still playing actively.
Congratulations for your performance last season for Smouha. You scored some spectacular goals to help your club though Smouha escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth. In all these you were exceptional with all the big clubs chasing you.
GA: Thank you very much. I will say what happened to me last season is one of the best things that has happened in my career. I came back to Smouha with the view of relaunching my career so that I can go back to the Middle East.
Smouha is a club which is very rich. It was a second division club which got promoted to the premier and brought a lot of players. The clubs came but it was unfortunate that I have three years still on my contract so they didn?t even look at the offers because I had done well throughout the season.
I finished as top scorer for the club scoring nine goals and my performance was so splendid all the clubs were chasing after us but couldn?t make the move and I am still here with the club.
The season has begun once again and you have started scoring but Smouha have not started on a brighter note. What are the expectations for this season? Are you going to seek to improve upon last terms performance and lure other clubs outside of Egypt to sign you?
GA: Yeah you are right on what you are saying. We have not started well same like last year. As I told you the club lacks a bit of professionalism because it?s new there are some basic things that they were not doing right.
Before the league commenced we were talking a lot about our coaching side instead they signed a lot of players, about 15, which I think we don?t need that. They were supposed find solutions to loopholes of last season.
You see that we could score a lot of goals yet concede a lot. Fortunately I was able to talk to the chairman about this and there have brought in an experienced coach in the person of Hassan Shehata.
He is experienced and has won a lot of titles for Egypt. So we are seeking to improve as you righting said.
You scored nine times from midfield last season. Do you seek to improve on your goal scoring this season and score more goals? You have already scored one.
GA: For sure! I want to score more goals this season. Here I play from midfield but I still managed to find the net most of the games I play.
The new coach is trying to use me from behind the two strikers to match up so I want to score more.
But as a midfielder, I cannot always predict that I am going to score.
Now let’s look at the political crisis that happened in Egypt last season and which seems to be continuing now. Do you think that affected your performance as you seek to play week in week out to improve your form?
GA: Yeah it really affected our performance because football is about playing consistently. If you stop playing for some time, you become rusty but as I am talking to you.
After what happened last season, we played matches in every four days which improved our physical condition which was good for us the players.
The league is currently on a break because of the U23 qualifiers after ten days, we will back playing again.
Smouha escaped relegation last season because of the crisis. Are you seeking to qualify the team for African competition this season?
GA: Qualifying to play in the CAF Champions League or the CAF Confederations is going to be a difficult thing.
But this coach came with a different thing. He has his philosophies and ambitions to qualify to pay something in Africa but as I am speaking with you. We are trying to fight not to be like last season.
Escape relegation and at least occupy a mid table position. After we achieve this, we can think about qualifying for Africa.
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