I Won’t Rush My Son To Play For Ghana - Charles Akonnor

Ex-Black Stars coach, Charles Kwablan Akonnor, has said he will not rush his younger son into deciding to play for the juvenile national teams in Ghana.

Even though he has not discussed the possibility of playing for Ghana in future with the boy, he said he believed that it was not worth it flying a young player down to come and represent the national team at the juvenile level when other talents on the local scene could equally be called to play in the junior teams.

Speaking to the Graphic Sports in an interview, the former Wolfsburg player, who praised his son, Charles Kwablan Herrmann, for his contribution to Germany’s success at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, said he wanted the player to mature to take that decision.

“At their age, we are not good with these under-17 things, and who will pay for a ticket for somebody to come to Africa to play for under-17? Another thing too is that maybe they should look at the talent in Ghana and use them,” he said.

He admitted that at the senior level, if the 17-year-old was ready to represent the country, he would give his full backing and explained that the likes of Kevin-Prince Boateng did not play at the junior level for Ghana but were allowed to play for the Black Stars.

The 49-year-old coach was happy to point to his older son, Jesaja Herrman, who has already expressed his willingness to play for the Black Stars when the opportunity availed itself.
He said despite representing Germany at the under-17 level, Jesaja was committed to following in his footsteps to play for Ghana one day.

”The older one was also a national team player, who played in the under-17, and he is now playing for a third-division side. He is now willing to play for the Black Stars when he gets the chance,” he said.

But the ex-Black Stars coach said he had advised his son to work much harder if he wanted to be part of the Black Stars because his chances of getting a call-up to the national team were limited if he was playing in the lower tier league.

“I told him to do more than he is doing now. For the national team, you don’t have to be in the third division; you have to be in the premier and make waves for yourself to be seen as a national team player; but for now, he is a little bit far from the national team.”