Open up and listen to other views to develop Ghana Football – Augustine Arhinful

Former Ashgold striker, Augustine Arhinful, has charged handlers of the various national teams to be open to various views from stakeholders, to help in the development of football in the country.

His comments follow the early exit of the Black Starlets from the ongoing WAFU Zone B U-17 Cup of Nations in Togo.

Ghana was paired with Nigeria and Cote D’Ivoire in Group B. The Starlets who shared the spoils with Nigeria in their tournament opener, lost 3-1 to Cote D’Ivoire to exit the competition.

For failing to qualify for the next stage of the competition, Ghana will miss out on the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations which will be hosted in Morocco later this year.

Speaking on Floodlight Sports with Saddick Adams on Angel 102.9 FM, the former national team player appealed to the Technical Directorate of the Ghana Football Association, to facilitate the identification of talents as well as finding the right spots for them.

“Identify the talents as well as where they can best fit,” he stated.

Arhinful also lamented on the poor state of facilities available for the grooming of players at the junior level.

“We can have better facilities but here in Ghana, it is a bit difficult to understand our mentality when it comes to the development of the game. Prampram has been there all this while but the facilities are nothing to write home about.

“How can we take the players to the next level? The pitches then, when I was playing in the [local] league, were far better than now. We are not moving in terms of the development of these infrastructures.”

Arhinful beseeched the Ghana football governing body to “open up and listen to other views from different sources to help in the development of the sports.