By Ameenu Shardow
Ghana U-20 chief George Afriyie insists Coach Orlando Wellington is the right man to lead the side despite heightened criticism of the former Berekum Chelsea boss.
The Black Satellites crashed out of the 8-Nations tournament in South Africa at the just the group stage.
Their disappointing showing in Cape Town was coming off the heels of a surprise defeat at the hands of the national U-17 team in the May 9 commemoration match.
This has increased the calls by numerous football fans for the sacking of Wellington who performed abysmally with the same side at last year’s African Youth Championships.
But the Black Satellites Committee chairman, George Afriyie who is bent on restoring the team to its glory days is adamant the ex Heart of Lions coach is the man they need to lead the side.
“I have total confidence in the coach and I believe it is important for all of us to offer our support to coach Orlando (Wellington),†he told GHANAsoccernet.com.
“Do you think Orlando wants to fail? He certainly wants to prove a point with the team.
“For me he is a good coach because he is able to motivate the players to play their hearts out and that for me is a key ingredient of a quality coach.â€
Afriyie adds the 8-Nation tournament served as a good test and exposed the limitations of the team which is already being worked on.
“We needed to give our players the exposure and to test them with the tournament and to a large extent we achieved this though we didn’t progress.
“For me we did very well and the lessons learnt are already being worked on so by the time we start our qualifiers proper things would have improved significantly.â€
The Black Satellites will host Uganda in the first leg of the opening qualification tie for the 2013 African Youth Championships in July.