Vice Chairman of the Black Starlets management Committee, Winfred Kwaku Osei Palma has brushed aside claims indicating his outfit fielded unqualified players in the team’s victory over Cameroon in the first leg of the final qualifier to the 2015 African U-17 Championships.
The Cameroonian FA on Monday lodged an official protest against Ghana for allegedly fielding unqualified players in a game they lost 1-2 at home.
The Central African side claimed seven of the Black Starlets players were not qualified to feature in the game at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadiun in Yaoundé.
According to the CFF, Moses Nyarko, Abass Issah, Benjamin Asiedu, Isaac Twum, Felix Quaye, Henry Medarious and Jonah Osabutey were all over age players.
But the bankroller of division one side Tema Youth in an exclusive interview with Ghanasportsonline.com upon the team’s arrival at the Kotoka International Airport rubbished those claims indicating all 18 players who made the trip were eligible to play.
“Yes, they have planned to lodge a protest against us because they claim our players were over age,” he told Ghanasportsonline.com.
“the match commissioner was sitting just by me. At no circumstance someone just raised an issue that they are protesting against Ghana”.
“We rather had issues with their passports and we even took pictures of it at various points”.
“The biggest guy on the pitch, in other words the oldest guy on the pitch was a Cameroonian”.
“You can go to the net and type the “Lions Cadet” and see their pictures and then compare them to our boys and ask yourself which of the two teams were over age”.
Having defeated Cameroon at their own backyard, the Black Starlets stands favorite to qualify for next year’s African U-17 Championships with a 2-1 advantage ahead of the return encounter which comes off on Sunday in Accra.