Posted by Black Satellites (Ghana U-20) manager, Abdul Karim Zito has defended his decision to invite 140 players for Black Satellites camping.
Coach Karim Zito last week handed 70 players call up to the camp of the Black Satellites as the team prepares for the WAFU ‘B’ U-20 qualification tournament to be staged in Togo later this year.
After a week in camp, another batch of 70 players will be called to camp, making it a total of 140 players. The number will be whittled down to 23 in the coming weeks.
Karim Zito’s decision has come as a surprise to lots of football fans, especially with the Covid-19 situation we have at hand.
“I did a wide scouting for the team and I consulted other national coaches who have coached the team before I named the squad,” he said.
“I was asked to justify the call-up and I did that and the Ghana Football Association [GFA] were pleased so I don’t think there should be any problem.
“I understand the situation but this is the right way to go,” he added.
Quizzed if he is pleasing clubs, the veteran trainer said, “Not every team were able to give me a player because not all of them have U-20 team.
“I am not pleasing any club because I did not call players from Aduana Stars and other clubs.
“A proper scouting was done and these are the players we selected.
Karim Zito also stressed that even though the players will be tested for Covid-19 on arrival but does not think it’s a financial loss to the state.
“I don’t think it’s a financial loss to the state because we are entitled to play the tournament and we must do the test regardless.
“The health of the players must paramount and testing 70 players with team officials should not be a problem for me,” he added.
All invited Players will undergo mandatory COVID-19 testing which would be conducted twice at the GFA Technical centre.
The team started camping on Friday, August 28, 2020.