Africa Youth to descend on Addis

THE final countdown for the 12th edition of the Africa Youth soccer championship will be over this weekend for Ethiopia to host the best on the continent at youth level.

And when the much-awaited tournament takes off in Addis Ababa on Sunday, there will be worldwide attraction as scouts especially will clean up their lenses towards discovering some new talents.

But the main focus will be on the Black Satellites of Ghana who will be defending the trophy won two years ago on home soil.

Apart from their status as defending champions, the rich reserve of talents the Ghanaian team parade virtually makes them the favourites for the eight-nation biennial championship.

This is notwithstanding the fact that the team did not get the best of preparations.

However, the eleventh hour training exercise with their Egyptian counterparts both home and away could make for the exposure the boys needed before the big kick-off.

In spite of the fact that the Ghanaians lost both games against the Young Pharaohs in their final lap of preparations by 2-1 margins in Egypt, the most significant aspect will be the kind of toughening the players needed to brace themselves for the task ahead.

The Satellites who were seeded in group B will open their defence against Angola next Monday, March 19 while clashing with Nigeria and Mali on March 22 and 25 respectively.

And with the expected inclusion of Hearts of Oak's trio, Charles Taylor, Stephen Tetteh and Ishmael Addo as well as Panathinaikos sensation Derek Boateng, all of whom were scheduled to leave last night to join their colleagues in Ethiopia, chances look very bright for the Satellites.

As for the team's head coach, E. K. Afranie, he is more than convinced of a successful defence by his boys as he looks beyond to the World version of the competition slated for Argentina in July.

Group A comprises Ethiopia, South Africa, Cameroun and Egypt.

Meanwhile, the following 18 players will represent the nation in the championship.

They are Maxwell Banahene, George Owu, Sulley Muntari, Lawrence Kainyah, Patrick Villars, Emmanuel Pappoe, Frank Turkson, Samuel Thompson, Charles Taylor, Razak Pinpong and Derek Boateng.

The rest are Stephen Oduro, Abass Inusah, Ibrahim Razak, Michael Essien, Amonoo Johnson, Stephen Tetteh and Ishmael Addo.