Ghana Football Association President, Kurt Edwin Simon Okraku has urged Black Stars to exhibit their top player status in the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Ghana failed to make the last edition of the World’s elite international tournament in Russia three years ago. The Blacks Stars will begin a new quest for a slot in Qatar on Friday, September 3 as they host Ethiopia in Cape Coast in the first qualifying games.
The GFA Boss visited the players’ base at Alisa Hotel on Tuesday before they departed to Cape Coast. Upon the visit, Kurt told the players that the moment for them to show that they are ‘top players’ begins on Friday.
‘’And it’s a moment each one of you should be looking up to if you are a top player. If you are a top player you need to belong to the topmost platform in football. If any of you is not a top player, this is not the door, its means you don’t belong to this platform that confront us beginning on Friday.” He said as quoted by the FA’s website
‘’If you are a top player this is the time. If you call yourself a top player the World Cup is the biggest platform you can think about as a career – where all the big players assemble and show what they are made of. If you are a top coach this is the time to show. In the same vein, if you are a top manager this is the time to show.
‘’The preparations towards the games start from here. It’s so important that each one of us will keep our minds firmly focused on the end vision. The end vision is to qualify to the Mundial and that is why we are all challenged to be part of that massive platform.
‘’It won’t only take my effort, your effort or the effort of the Technical team to take us to the promised land – But our collective effort.
‘’That is why when you are selected on Friday, you have to go and play as a unit. It will not be easy but each one of us has the responsibility to encourage each other right from the blast of the whistle to make our dream real.
‘’Again it will not be easy but when we stay as a unit we will go through this battle. We believe we have enough quality – we believe we are the best and that believe must be translated into good results on Friday and on Monday in South Africa.
‘’The Government of Ghana has absolute believe in this squad. We are Ghana – we may not be the richest but we are rich on the pitch, we have talents and we have to show what we have. We are very happy that all of us have responded positively to this national course.
‘’As you leave here to Cape Coast, let us remember that teamwork wins and it’s only teamwork that will take us to the promised land. On behalf of the football family I wish each one of you the very best’’ the President added.
