Boys selected for the national under-17 team: Ahmed Deedat Amoako (extreme left, National Player of the Year, 2005 and Best defender, 2006),
Sampson Otoo (2nd from left, Ashanti's best Goalkeeper and Best Goalkeeper award winner, 2006), and defender Stephen Okei (extreme right). Ahmed, Otoo and Okei were chosen for the Black Starlets.
Prempeh College's magical trio of Ahmed Deedat Amoako, Stephen Okei and Sampson Otoo today
joined their colleagues in camp at the National Sports College in Winneba.
These boys
have been the force at the rear of the Prempeh team and have prevented balls from
getting into the net of the college and were called to the National Under 17
team, the Black Starlets some weeks ago.
While over 100 players selected for the national team trials were training in Winneba
to justify their inclusion in the final 23, those participating in the national Milo football championship in Koforidua
were exempted from reporting to Winneba. This is because Coach Bashiru and his staff were monitoring
the performance of the Milo participants.
Coach Bashiru informed Prempeh's Stephen Okei that he and Ahmed will form the backbone of the Starlets defence because
they have played so comfortably well together for a long time. Ahmed, the 2005 national footballer of the year who was also adjudged Best Defender of
the 2006 Milo tourney, and Okei will play the traditional 4 and 5 positions, respectively.
Paul Manu, who has now been declared the new captain of the college with the exit of
Ahmed Deedat Amoako, will join his friends in Winneba on Wednesday.
Prempeh had the golden opportunity of becoming the first school to win the national
Milo football back-to-back, but fell to Potsin AMASS (Central Region champions) 1-0 in the 2006 Milo final.
In fact, Prempeh could have been the first team to win the prestigious trophy an unprecedented 3 consecutive times
had they not lost to the same Potsin AMASS on penalties in 2004. We won it in 2005 when Potsin was not a participant.
