Host nation New Zealand and Ukraine get this year’s FIFA Under-20 Championship underway with a Group A clash at the Harbour Stadium in the wee hours of this morning (01:00 GMT) and about six hours later (07:00 GMT) it will be the turn of Ghana’s Black Satellites to get their campaign off with a Group B clash with Austria at the Wellington Regional Stadium, in a match Ghanaians will be following with great expectation.
As winners six years ago and bronze medallist at the last tourney in Turkey in 2013, the Satellites go into the May 30 -June 20 tourney as not only former champions but also one of the pre-tournament favourites with a good record in the history of the championship.
Before Ghana and Austria take to the field, USA and minnows Myanmar will square off in another tricky group A clash in Wellington.
For Coach Sellas Tetteh, whose side have a date with former winners Argentina and Panama, he knows the importance of a good start for the Satellites, expecially after they were humbled 3-0 by France in their opening group clash two years ago and struggled to revive their campaign after that huge loss.
Coach Tetteh goes into the tournament with vast experience at the Under-20 level, having gone past the semi-final stage in each of his two previous campaigns (Egypt 2009 and Turkey 2013). At the continental level, the Satellites struggled to win bronze and the important lessons learned from the African Championship in Senegal informed the coach’s decision to beef up his team with the inclusion of some Europe-based players for the tougher challenge in New Zealand.
Austria go into this morning’s match with relatively less pedigree, even if several of their number are with clubs in Europe's major leagues. Unfortunately for the Austrians, one such player, their star man Sinan Bytyqi, will miss the competition through injury.
While the loss of Bytyqi is a huge blow to the Austrians, captain Francesco Lovric -- a tall, strong and tactically mature centre-half who plays his club football with Stuttgart -- is sure to lead by example. Werder Bremen striker Florian Grillitsch is another player the Satellites defender must keep an eye on, having provided important goals to aid Austria’s qualification to the championship.
With his pedigree at the world stage, Coach Tetteh will be expected to devise very smart tactics to get past the Austrians and in Spain-based midfielder Clifford Aboagye and Manchester City youngster Yaw Yeboah, the Satellites have two creative players who are expected to be the fulcrum of the team. Aboagye, who was one of the most outstanding players at the 2013 tourney, will bring his experience and creativity to bear on the side while Yeboah will provide thrust in the attack which includes Italy-based Godfred Donsah and tall Benjamin Tetteh.
