Satellites captain rues absence from semis

A late yellow card for a needless charge in the game against Chile at the ongoing U-20 World Cup in Turkey still lingers on the mind of Black Satellites's skipper Lawrence Lartey, as he misses out in the crucial semi-final battle against France this afternoon.

Speaking to the Graphic Sports yesterday, Lartey said it worried him that he was not going to be part of the game.

‘’From the very moment I received that yellow card and realised I would not be part of the semi-finals match, I have not been happy to date.

‘’But I take consolation in the fact that the team has capable men to do the job for Ghana and my absence will not be too much felt", he stated.

He said God had guided them to this stage of the competition and it would be too bad to lose at this stage.

"We started poorly, but by the grace of God, we have managed to reach this stage of the competition and we must not let this opportunity slip by.

"My colleagues and I know very well that this is an opportunity to win something for Ghana and those who wear the jerseys know the task ahead,’’ skipper Lartey  stated.

Dismissing assertions that he was a quiet skipper compared with his senior counterpart, Andre Dede Ayew, who often commanded his boys on the pitch when the going got tough, the Ashgold defender said: “I do talk to the players on the field of play.”

‘’I do speak a lot to the players on the field and outside it, so it's not true that I don't speak to the players,’’ Lartey insisted.

By Andy Quao