Local players will get their chance to play – CK Akonnor
It’s the dream of every footballer to represent his country at any level in national colors. But that dream remains unrealized until a coach sees vision to hand players a fair opportunity of the national cake.
The Ghana Premier League is a hub for most local players to harness and express their talent for all to see their true potential. Some have call-ups to the national team only to warm the bench whiles others get meager minutes to impress scouts, fans and technical people in the stands.
In light of all these and other prevailing situations, Ghana coach Charles Akonnor has revealed ambitions to hand more opportunities to local lads to the Black Stars under his watch.
The former captain of the Blackstars admonishes the pool of talent in the domestic league drawing comparisons to players he played with some decades past on the local scene before departing the shores of the land.
“I would like to give the chance to the locals more. When I started playing [for Black Stars], the likes of Frimpong Manso, Armah Senegal, and Salifu Ansah the goalkeeper, they were senior guys. We had a majority of locals in the team. I started playing as a local player before I traveled abroad. It has changed and I think it is up to us to try as much as we can to improve that area because there is a big gap.”
It remains to be seen if the new coach of the senior national team, Blackstars, who recently took over the reins of the job from Kwesi Appiah after briefly serving as his assistant coach will keep to his word and hand the local players a fair amount of opportunities into the national setup sooner than later in his current dispensation.
