It Was Tough Choosing My Final Squad - Paa Kwesi Fabian

Head coach of the Black Starlets of Ghana Paa Kwesi Fabin has disclosed how difficult it was for him to drop four players from the final squad for the FIFA U-17 World Cup slated for India from the 6th to the 28th of October.

Ahead of the training tour in UAE, 25 players were selected for the camping according to the FIFA rules. 21 players will have to be presented as the final squad for the tournament and Paa Kwesi Fabian had the arduous task of picking his final team.

"The most difficult thing in my coaching career is to drop some to players for a competition. This is because you will be with them for a while and unfortunately, they get dropped. In fact, it was difficult for me but the requirement demands that we present 21 players to FIFA out of the lot. The whole technical team conferred on the final selection of the players but I must admit it was a very difficult task." he told Happy FM.

He further urged the four players who were dropped from the squad to not give up but rather fight hard for successive competitions.

"I will tell them never give up because they have been dropped from the squad who will represent the nation in India but they should rather draw inspirations from Samuel Inkoom who was dropped from Starlets squad on so many occasions but he never gave up and eventually became an integral part of the Black Satellites team that won the African Under 20 Championship and the World Cup in 2009 which was staged in Egypt and later became part of the Black Stars team.

"Their elimination from the squad should motivate them to work harder for the various age competitions like, U-20 and the Olympic team. It's never late for them. As under 17 players, they have a long way to go." he told Happy FM.

The following players were dropped from the squad; Evans Sarfo-Asakwa Deportivo, Emmanuel Antwi-Charity Stars, Rudolph Blagogee-Maamobi Stars and Isaac Antah-Young Wise.