Former Ghana international Nii Odartey Lamptey believes the nation is struggling to dominate FIFA juvenile competitions because of its lackadaisical attitude towards the competition.
The West African football powerhouse last lifted FIFA U17 World Cup tournament in 1995 in Ecuador when they defeated Brazil 3-2 in the final.
The Black Starlets returned to the juvenile World Cup this year after ten-year absence in India but were knocked out by neighbours Mali at the quarter final stage.
According to Odartey Lamptey, the recent failures of the team is due to their careless attitude towards the biennial tournament.
“We were not that serious about the whole competition from the beginning because look at the time we arrived in Dubai for the training camp, and the time we played our friendly games- all those factors affected the team badly during the tournament,” Odartey said on Asempah FM.
“Comparing this to our time, I quite remember that even without enough resources we went to Germany and Brazil before we went to Italy to win the trophy.”
“But we have relaxed about so many things because we feel we’ve won the cup before, so now we are relying on our past glory but mind you other countries are working to groom and progress at this level, however, it seems we are resting on our laurels. Therefore I believe that has culminated in our recent failures.”
Lamptey led the Black Starlets to win the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Italy and was named the best players of the tournament