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Five Ghanaian footballers who failed to glitter after U-17 World Cup

By Vincent Ashitey
Five Ghanaian footballers who failed to glitter after U-17 World Cup
Five Ghanaian footballers who failed to glitter after U-17 World Cup
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Ghana, a nation blessed with talents has produced some of the exciting players to lit youth level tournaments.

However, some of the players have failed to reach their full potential after the spotlight was focused on them.

Below we look at 5 players who failed to glitter after U-17 tournaments. 

Nii Odartey LampteyImage result for nii odartey lamptey u17The Ghanaian lit up the 1991 FIFA Under-17 World Cup which his native country won, with his stellar performances. Odartey performance as the best of his generation and Pele once said: “Lamptey is my natural successor”.

However, the Ghanaian could not live up to the honour conferred on him by the Legendary Pele and eventually retired in 2008.

Saddick Adams

Adams was recognised by World Soccer magazine as one of the 50 Most Exciting Teenagers on the Planet in their November 2007 released. He scored 4 goals in 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup for Ghana.

Adams signed a pre-contract for the Atletico Madrid and trained with reserve side since FIFA allowed no international transfer to happen for players under 18 years.

He, however, joined Atletico Madrid B and played for the side from 2008 to 2009. In May 2009, Adams was banned by FIFA for four months and fined $120,000 for abandoning a contract he had with Etoile de Sahel to move to Atletico Madrid.

Adams career has not blossomed as many expected and he now plies his trade with AshantiGold.

Ransford OseiRelated imageDescribed by FIFA.com as "an opportunistic goal machine" with superb pace and movement Ransford is sitll yet to reach his full potential.

He was recognized by World Soccer Magazine as one of the 50 Most Exciting Teenagers on the Planet in their November 2007 after winning the Adidas Silver shoe in the 20017 U-17 World Cup.

Three weeks before his 17th birthday, he received his first senior International call-up from Ghana coach Claude Le Roy for a FIFA International friendly match against Togo at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra, Ghana, on November 18, 2007 after scoring a superb hat-trick against Togo's U17 team in a Junior International friendly at the same venue on Sunday November 11, 2007.

Osei's career has been curtailed with injuries. He has had stint with clubs in Europe and Africa and currently plays for FK Palanga in Lithuania

Owusu AfriyieRelated imageAfriyie caught everyone’s attention during the 1997 U-17 World Cup in Egypt. He was Ghana's top scorer and the third highest scorer in the tournament with 4 goals.

Sadly, his career never matched the promise he showed and he became a journeyman player in Europe, moving to Spanish side Badajoz after just a season. He later joined bigger club Málaga, where he spent three years but was loaned to Portuguese club Chaves during his third season.

In 2001 Afriyie returned to Ghana to spend two seasons with Hearts of Oak, before spending a further two seasons in Austria with Feldkirchen.

Daniel OpareRelated imageSo much was expected from him after showing much promise at the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

He was recognized by World Soccer Magazine as one of the "50 Most Exciting Teenagers on the Planet" due to his incredible footspeed and precision crossing.

He earned a move to Real Madrid Castilla after the tournament. Opare failed to break into Madrid's first team and has moved to various teams in Europe in search of playing time.

He currently plies his trade with Royal Antwerp in the Belgian League. 

Read also: Black Stars forward Majeed Waris sidelined with muscle injury

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