A member of the young, dazzling twinkle, twinkle little stars who made Ghana proud at the 6th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Championship hosted by Ecuador in 1995, Attakora Amaniampong says injuries did not help him in his career.
“Somewhere in 1997, I was invited to the Satellites, I think it was against Gambia when I was called into the team to mark a deadly Gambian striker. Unfortunately I got injured in training when I went for a challenge on Awudu Issahka. As a result, I couldn’t feature in the return leg with Gambia in Kumasi.”
Attakora Amaniampong
Speaking on Ahotor FM’s Warm Up Sports with Daakyehene Kwabena Amoabeng on “Adekye Mu Nsem,” the world cup winner revealed that he got the chance to join FC Cologne together with his teammate Abu Iddrisu after the FIFA U-17 World Cup. “When we got back from the World Cup, FC Cologne came for Abu Iddrisu and myself and after the contract expired, I moved to SC Freiburg while Abu Iddrisu stayed at Cologne.” He said.
The defender got to the chance to wear a national team jersey again when he was invited to the national U-21 team for a qualifier but got injured during training. “Somewhere in 1997, I was invited to the Satellites, I think it was against Gambia when I was called into the team to mark a deadly Gambian striker. Unfortunately I got injured in training when I went for a challenge on Awudu Issahka. As a result, I couldn’t feature in the return leg with Gambia in Kumasi.”
The World Cup winner concluded that, after going through a successful surgery he came back stronger but his age forced him to bring the curtain down on his playing career and quickly moved into coaching.
“If offered the opportunity to train one of the junior national teams, why not, it’s my country, I’m also a Ghanaian and everybody wants to serve his or her country, so if offered the chance, I will thank God. I won’t say No, I will do it.”
Attakora Amaniampong
Attakora is currently the deputy coach for SSV Merten in the German Inberliga Mittelrhein and has expressed his desire to coach a national team in Ghana.
He told Daakyehene in the interview that if offered the opportunity to coach a national team in the country, he will thank God and serve the nation with all his heart because Ghana is his motherland. “If offered the opportunity to train one of the junior national teams, why not, it’s my country, I’m also a Ghanaian and everybody wants to serve his or her country, so if offered the chance, I will thank God. I am ready to coach, I won’t say no, I will do it.”
Amoabeng Raymond Owusu (Daakyehene)
