The streets of most African countries are always buzzing with kids kicking the globular leather around with an aim of becoming the next Abedi Pele, Stephen Appiah, Asamoah Gyan, Andre Ayew or Mohammed Kudus.
African football greats like those mentioned above were scouted from these streets but nonetheless have been nurtured and eventually risen to greater heights. Lapaz Newmarket is a busy suburb of Accra that has brought forth some national assets if not many of them.
A name that readily comes into mind is Daniel Agyei who kept Ghana’s post in the 2009 CAF and FIFA U-20 World Cup winning streak in Rwanda and Egypt respectively. Gilbert Fiamenyo, Karim Alhassan all formerly of Hearts of Oak, Seth Opare previously of Aduana FC and Asante Kotoko are products baked from the loamy soiled and “bottle stuffed” pitch of Cosmos School Park at Lapaz New Market.
Aside from Danie Agyei, the biggest name to have come out of the highly delinquent community is Emmanuel Boateng – famed for scoring a hat-trick against Barcelona while playing for Levante in the Spanish La Liga. Such feat encourage other youngsters to to want to follow in their footsteps but the picture looks mixed and a bit different for Isaac Mante.
Mante who can be deployed at the back line and in midfield plays for a third division club, Newcastle United at Fadama, a community associated with the national Chief Imam. The young footballer must however sell coconut after training to be able to feed himself and to buy kits for himself.
“As a footballer, you need something to help yourself, you go and train, play football and you might not get food to eat upon return,” Mante told Adamu Muftawu.
Content created and supplied by: AdamuMuftawu (via Opera
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