Satellites Home To Rapturous Welcome

Thousands  of football fans, most of them clad in the national colours, thronged the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) last Saturday night to give the Black Satellites a rapturous welcome when the team returned home after winning the FIFA Under-20 Championship in Egypt last Friday.

Deafening noise and thunderous applause greeted the 21 players and their officials, all in black suits, as they walked from the tarmac to the VIP Lounge, waving back at the teeming fans who were in an ecstatic mood.

A high-powered government delegation, most of them dressed in white apparel and led by Vice-President John Mahama, welcomed the players back home after brief Christian and Muslim prayers had been said.

Overwhelmed by the Satellites victory, Mr Mahama said the team’s victory was a precursor to what the Black Stars would achieve at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa next June.

He said if the Black Stars could put in a little more effort as the Black Satellites did, the  World Cup could be won by Ghana for the first time.

“When I see players like you, I know Ghana has a great future in football,” he said. He said although beating Brazil, after playing with 10 men for the greater part of the final match, was miraculous, the resilience of the players could not be written off.

Ghana beat the Celecao of Brazil 4-3 on penalties, after the two teams had drawn 0-0 in 120 minutes, to lift the ultimate prize of the World Youth soccer fiesta.

The Vice-President said Ghana’s victory, the first to be won by an African country, was a victory for the entire African continent.
He said there had been calls from companies to show appreciation to the players, noting that the government would liaise with the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to co-ordinate all such contributions for the team.

The GFA President, Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi, noted that Coach Sellas Tetteh had proved that with the needed support, the black man could rise to the top and even do better.

He said Ghana’s achievement had made the country the shining star of the continent, adding that he was confident that many more laurels would be won in future.

 Mr Nyantakyi agreed with the Vice-Present’s assertion that the Satellites’ success story "gives a lot of hope for the Black Stars to win the World Cup in South Africa".

Ghana’s Dominic Adiyiah was named the best player and highest goal scorer of the three-week tournament.
 He also made history as the player to have scored the highest number of goals (eight) in one tournament since the inception of the tournament in 1977.

Prior to the tournament in Egypt, the Satellites had won the African Youth Championship and the WAFU competition in Rwanda and Nigeria, respectively.

The players and their officials were mobbed by the fans as they left the VIP Lounge to board a bus to their hotel. The fans had broken through the barricaded arena near the lounge and that made it difficult for the players to move to their bus as security personnel struggled to restrain the fans. 

Meanwhile, President John Evans Atta Mills is expected to announce a special package for the Satellites today for winning the youth tournament.

The Sports Minister, Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, told the Daily Graphic that the team would embark on a float through some principal streets of Accra today to show the trophy to Ghanaians.

The players and their officials would later in the day converge on the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium in Accra to be received by the President, he added.

The minister did not give details of the package but said it would be “something tangible’ commensurate with the performance of the players and their handlers.

GIF Radio program guide