Posted by Former Black Stars and Asante Kotoko defender Frimpong Manso has claimed that Ghana’s dominance at the youth level in the the 1990’s was due to age cheating.
Between that time, the Black Starlets (U17) won two FIFA World Cups (1991, 1995) and two African Cup of Nations ( 1995, 1999). They also finished as first runners up at two different editions of the World Cup (1993, 1997) and second runners up in 1999.
However, Ghana over the last two decades has struggled to replicate the success stories of the past.
Speaking on the 25th anniversary of Ghana’s U-17 World Cup triumph in 1995 in Ecuador, Manso shared that age cheating was the reason why Ghana dominated youth tournaments.
“In the olden days, we used over-aged players for the U-17 competitions and we are now suffering in the long run. Back then there was no MRI to check the real age of players so we used over-aged players”.
“We don’t get time for the youth side and our obsession of always wanting to win is a problem,” Frimpong Manso further revealed.
He added: “I am happy that right now we’ve U15 side so let’s prepare them with a good progressing plan because our planning has always been wrong”.