Sports News of Monday, 7 August 2017
Source: ghanaiantimes.com.gh
2017-08-07
Sulley Muntari
Ghana midfielder, Sulley Muntari says the Black Stars can still qualify for the 2018 World Cup despite their poor start in the qualifiers.
The Black Stars trail group leaders Egypt by five points after two rounds of the matches in the qualifiers for the competition to be held in Russia next year.
With four matches remaining fans of the Black Stars have already consigned themselves to defeat claiming they cannot reach the tournament.
However, Muntari insists the Black Stars have a bright chance of qualifying if they are able to win all their remaining matches in the qualifiers.
“The Black Stars can still make it to the World Cup,” Muntari said on football legends night show on GHOne.
“In 2006 we lost our first game, we drew our second game and won the rest of the games and we made it to the World Cup.”
In the same interview, Muntari accused national youth team coaches of demanding money from players before handing them call-ups.
According to the former Inter Milan enforcer, most young players have to pay their way through to get selected into the national teams which is making our youth development a big problem.
“Ghana has raw and amazing talents but then most of them have to pay their way through to up there. But when I was picked to go the national U-17, I didn’t pay for one penny at that time, so I was just picked because they liked the way I played.”
“So we should go back to how it was back then and not about who you know. It should be your talent that will make you move forward and that is what we can do to bring the generation up. Look at the players that have played at the youthful level in the past, we don’t have them anymore and that kind of hunger anymore. So we should focus on our youth because there are lots of talents in the academies in Ghana but you don’t see them in the national team.”
“I think the journalists together with the FA should work hard to find a solution to this problem and help the nation because most Ghanaians are not happy with what they are seeing compared to players like Stephen Appiah, Laryea Kingston, Sammy Kuffour, Abedi Pele and Augustine Arhinful,” Muntari said.
