)
There is a perception that some players in the Black Stars use juju against their closest contenders in their quest to get a starting place.
)
George Amoako
It was however made official after coach Goran Stevanovic following the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Equatorial Guinea Gabon added to his report that the Black Stars players were involved in juju activities during the tournament.
)
)
)
Issah Ahmed a member of both AFCON 2006 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup in a recent interview with Pulse.com.gh, disclosed that a teammate cast a spell on him through juju and it was the reason for his blunder against Zimbabwe in Egypt, which contributed to coach Ratomir Dujkovic loss of confidence in him.
And George Amoah has said that European-born players of Ghanaian descent and those born in Ghana, but had their youth development abroad a reluctant to play for the Black Stars due to juju scare.
“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,” he told Nhyira FM
“There are a lot of perceptions about how Ghanaian footballers play the game. Reckless tackles, destructive tendencies in the Ghanaian game and talks of juju put them off”.
Mohammed Salisu, Eddie Nketiah and Tariq Lamptey are some of the finest young Ghanaian players abroad who are yet to commit the future of their international football.
Lamptey has been trending in the Ghanaian football cycles since his stellar display on his Premier League debut for Brighton & Hove Albion against Chelsea on Monday and Ghanaians have intensified the call for his invitation to the Black Stars.
George Amoako was speaking on Ghana’s attempt to have Brighton defender Tariq Lamptey represent the country instead of England where he was born and has featured for their youth teams.
“In fact when I was watching him [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 told Nhyira FM.
“It is not going to be easy [to get him to switch international allegiance]. The national teams' department is making serious efforts to get his parents and the boy to agree to play for Ghana”.
It is understood that Ghana enquired about Tariq Lamptey in July, 2020.