All eyes on Satellites

Today’s clash between Ghana the  Black Satellites’ clash with the Amajitas of South Africa at the Stade Caroline Faye in M'Bour, Senegal, bears semblance with epic moments of their previous showdown in Rwanda in the 2009 edition of the Africa Youth Championship.

The South Africans have launched a determined bid to avenge recent defeats at the hands of Ghana, particularly that painful one in the final group game at the last AFCON in Equatorial Guinea, which ultimately sounded the death knell for the Bafana Bafana.

Amajitas skipper, Madisha Modjeka, summed up the feelings and ambitions of the team ahead of today’s game when he told the media last Saturday that he and his teammates were fired up for the game basically to pay back the Satellites in their own coin for beating their senior at the last AFCON.

But that revenge mission might not be all. A victory for them will also make up for thir earlier loss to the Ghanaians in that thriller that saw the Satellites snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with two dramatic goals from Ransford Osei and Dominic Adiyiah to beat the South Africans 3-2 to secure a semi-final berth.

Indeed, the current Satellites generation might not compare in quality with the 2009 team led by skipper Andre Dede Ayew, as there seem to be a huge chasm between the two generations in terms of sheer talents.

But the current squad are assured of the tactical guile and experience of Coach Sellas Tetteh, who plotted that South African defeat in 2009 that saw the Ghanaians rose meteorically to subdue Africa in that edition of the Africa Youth Championship. And this time around, his acts would be nourished by Black Stars coach, Avram Grant.

Aside that, the Satellites are still endowed with some great talents, particularly in the midfield which includes the likes of Yaw Yeboah, a product of Right to Dream Academy, who, is a brilliant passer of the ball, Clifford Aboagye, a nimble-footed player who plies his trade with Granada in Spain and has already made a distinguished appearance at the last FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey, together with New Edubiase United midfield talent, Asiedu Attoborah.

The combination of the three is expected to gel into a mobile midfield force which will provide the cutting edge against the Amajitas to subsequently deal effectively with the threat from their Group B rivals, Mali and Zambia.