WE ARE HUMBLED BY GOVERNMENT PACKAGE — SAMUEL INKOOM (GRAPHIC SPORTS, PAGE 16)

Samuel Inkoom, a key member of the victorious Ghana U-20 team, the Black Satellites, which won the last World Cup has commended the government and the people of Ghana, as well as the various corporate bodies, for their recognition for the team’s achievement.
“We are overwhelmed by the gesture of the President, the frenzied welcome accorded us by Ghanaians and the general euphoria that swept accross the entire Africa following our success, and these will forever remain fond in our memories.
“To be honest with you, I was humbled when I heard the news of the package from government, and I believe my colleagues are equally grateful”, he said.
Inkoom, who currently plays for FC Basel of Switzerland, expressed these feelings in an interview with the Graphic Sports from his base.
The player who is among six Satellites invited to the senior national team, the Black Stars by Coach Milovan Raejevac, said one of the team’s biggest dreams was to become the world champions to raise the football image of the the country and the continent.
“With this as our battle cry, we went out there to play our hearts out to defend the image of our country with God on our side but we did not know that the government and the people of Ghana will respond with this level of appreciation,” he said.
Inkoom, who is expected to arrive tomorrow ahead of the Black Stars World Cup qualifier against Mali at the Baba Yara Stadium on Sunday also expressed appreciation to President Laurent Gbagbo who announced during his visit to Ghana that his country would host the team in Abidjan in an appreciation for doing Africa proud.
“My colleagues, Dan Addo, Dominic Adiyah and the rest of the team were of the view that Egypt 2009 provided us the perfect opportunity to sell ourselves and to use football to market Ghana on the international community,” he said.
Inkoom said wining the African Championship, and the World Cup should call for a critical look at the development of the game of football and other sports in the country.
He, therefore, appealed to the government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports to resource second cycle schools to take interest in sports since that was the only way to promote the game at the youth level.
He, therefore, called for the development of football academies and support of corporate bodies to ensure that talents were developed not to only feed teams in Ghana, but to ensure that Ghana remains among the giants of the game in Africa.
“People like Azumah Nelson, Abedi Pele, Robert Mensah, Polo, Tony Yeboah and Tony Baffoe are great sportsmen who made Ghana proud in their hey day and we of the current generation must be ready to continue from where they left off”, he added.
He used the opportunity to assure Windy Professionals, his mother club, and his former school, Apam Senior High School, that he had not forgotten about them and that in not too distant future, he would give back to them what they contributed to make him what he is today.