Tema Youth Plead For Mercy

Chief among the reasons the new entrants are to submit to the continent's football controlling body, CAF, is flight problems.

But that has been described by many connoisseurs as peripheral, adducing the inability of the Ghanaian first-timers to make the trip to financial difficulty and player apathy.

Mr Wilfred Osei, Secretary to the club, told the Graphic Sports yesterday in a telephone conversation that if the club had embarked on the trip it would have been suicidal.

He explained that it would have meant travelling with just three backs (defenders) after attempts to get the passports of some key players proved unsuccessful.

Key among them were defender Louis Quainoo's inability to retrieve his travelling document from his agent and striker Ekow Benson whose passport with the Ghana Football Association (GFA) could not be accessed.

“We were compelled to cancel the trip at about 3 p.m. last Friday because we could not afford to travel with just 13 players,” Mr Osei told the Graphic Sports.

The team was to trek by road to Lagos, Nigeria, to connect to Cameroun last Saturday via a Belview Airline.

The cllub faces a possible three-year ban from any of the CAF-organised competitions for bringing the game into disrepute.

One of Ghana's fast-improving team, Kpando Heart of Lions, are serving their final term in a similar three-year sanction after pulling out from the competition.

Tema Youth were given the slot as one of Ghana's representatives in Africa after Hearts, Arsenal, Liberty Professionals pulled out, coupled with Lions' ineligibility because of the ban.

Signs initially from Tema Youth indicated that they did not have the financial muscle to participate in Africa but accepted the challenge only to crumble under the heat.

Story by Daniel Kenu