Former Black Stars captain Charles K. Akonnor has stated that Ghana must identify a way of playing football and teach this through various age groups in the developmental stages.
The player added his voice to the debate which was one of the main talking points of the recent football retreat organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Accra last weekend. The program was a forum to bring together current and former football administrators and former footballers to discuss the state and development of the local game and propose ways of improvement.
Akonnor, explained though, that the development of a philosophy must be accompanied by the establishment of a technical directorate to help with the teaching of the style to children.
“The idea of a playing style is a very laudable one and it was mentioned by the Technical Committee during this retreat. Of course, we will bring in coaches who will have their personal notions on the game but what is most important is that we should have a philosophy.
The technical directorate will help in passing this on from the U-17 through the U20s, and the Black Meteors. This will ensure that when a player gets to the senior level, he has been taught enough about our style and he will be able to play.”
After Ghana’s poor run in the World Cup in Brazil, there has been calls for the development of the local game i.e. the Premier League and the lower leagues so that more talent can feed the Black Stars in future tournaments.
By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana