Dreams FC defender, Philemon Baffuor
• Karim Zito says Philemon Baffour deserves a Black Stars call-up
• Baffuor yet to make an appearance for the Black Stars
• Ghana will play Ethiopia and South Africa in the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers
Black Satellites head coach, Abdul Karim Zito has defended the Black Stars call-up of Dreams FC defender, Philemon Baffour.
The 20-year-old defender was named in the Black Stars call-up alongside 27 other players for Ghana’s upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Ethiopia and South Africa.
Baffour’s call-up has been heavily criticized because he has constantly been named in the past six Black Stars call-up but he is yet to get a single minute under his belt even in the absence of first-choice right-back Andy Yiadom.
But coach Karim Zito who also doubles as the assistant coach of Dreams says that the call-up of Baffour is justified because of the player’s performance displayed in the U20 championship played in Mauritania and the league guarantees him a place.
“Some Ghanaians are full of negativity because a player plays for Kurt Okraku’s team, he doesn’t deserve a call-up even if the player is good.”
“Kurt, I will tell you, does nothing aside from football administrations as compared to other Club owners who do other businesses together with football,” He added.
Coach Ziko explained further: “Philemon Baffour is a player who has played the U20 and played it well and won the tournament, he played all the matches. When Milo came, I didn’t make a recommendation for him but he watched the videos of that tournament and felt the boy is good. As to why he is not playing when called, that is meant for the coach to answer.”
“There was a time exco member Dr. Randy Abby talked about him and said he’s a good player and wasn’t happy CK benched him in one of the BS games because he (Randy) was with us throughout the tournament and saw the boy capabilities,” he said on Kumasi-based Akoma FM.
Also, watch this week’s episode of the Friday debate on GhanaWeb TV with Joel Eshun in the post below:
