Posted by A Black Stars management committee member, George Amoako has divulged that they are struggling to convince European-born players of Ghanaian decent to play for Ghana due to some bad perception these players have about Ghana.
Earlier this year, Black Stars manager Ck Akonnor disclosed that Ghana FA is working on getting about seven European-born players to represent the national team, with names like Tariq Lamptey, Eddie Nketiah, Elisha Owusu, Alexander Djiku and some few others being mentioned.
However, Black Stars management committee chairman, George Amoako has revealed that the players are disinterested in playing for the national team because of juju and other negative tendencies, which include reckless tackling.
“There are a lot of perceptions about how Ghanaian footballers play the game,” Amoakoh told Nhyira FM.
“Destructive tendencies in the game, those who deliberately want to injure you and cut short your career.
“Then the usual unending speculations, especially about Ghanaian players using ‘juju’ to play football.
“Even those [players in the diaspora] who were raised here and go to Europe to play there, most of them, because of ‘juju’, don’t want to play for Ghana.
“It’s a very big problem we are trying to unravel and make right.”
George Amoako went on to confirm that the FA is currently in talks with Brighton and Hove Albion defender, Tariq Lamptey, who put in an orgasmic performance against his former outfit Chelsea on Monday to play for the Black Stars.
“In fact, when I was watching [Lamptey] on TV, the first thing I did was to call a couple of people and it was clear that he will be a good player for our national team, the Black Stars,” Amoakoh added.
“It is not going to be easy [to get him to switch international allegiance]. The national team’s department is making serious efforts to get his parents and the boy to agree to play for Ghana.
“But it’s not going to be easy. I don’t want to sound like its impossible, but it’s not going to be easy.
“Most of the [Ghanaian] players born in Europe, if you want to entice them to come and play for Ghana, it is very difficult. They mostly aspire to play for their country of birth or host countries. Even their parents don’t opt for their children playing for Ghana.”