Satellites For Toulon On Friday

Acontingent of 18 players and seven officials of Ghana’s Under -20 side, Black Satellites, are expected to leave Accra on Friday to France ahead of the Toulon Youth Football Festival.

The Satellites, silver medalists at the Australia ’93 and Argentina 2001 World Youth Championship, are reported to have hit top form and set to cause a stir in the campaign.

Over the weekend, the Ghanaian youth team put up a plucky performance to maul Top Allies, an Accra-based division one side 6-0, in a special friendly to underline their preparedness for the 35th edition of the Toulon invitational tournament.

No team from the continent has ever won the prestigious tournament, and the Satellites believe they could be lucky to snatch it away.

Onetouch premiership goalking, Emmanuel Clottey, who grabbed a brace in the annihilation of Top Allies, thinks the Satellites can upset the apply-cart in France.

"We play with a lot of cohesion and understanding from defence to attack and I strongly believe that will work in our favour", Clottey told the Times Sports.

Satellites who are making their second appearance in the eight-nation tournament are locked up in Group B alongside Japan, Holland and Portugal.

Cote d’lvoire, the other West African contingent also joins China, Germany and host nation France, in Group A.

Vice president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Mr Fred Pappoe, recently hinted the Times Sports that the Toulon tournament presents a fighting chance for a number of players to break into the Black Stars and the Black Meteors.

"The door is always wide open as I continue to say – and whoever performs creditably well stands a bright chance of being promoted," he stressed.

A number of new faces campaigning in the European leagues have also been invited by the FA to be part of the Toulon jamboree where the Satellites technical advisor, Claude Le Roy, would have the opportunity to gauge their performance.

The Toulon contest begins on May 31 and ends on June 9.