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Africa can win next FIFA World Cup says Samuel Inkoom
Ghanaian international professional soccer player Samuel Inkoom says Africa can win the next FIFA World Cup if the continent does its home work well and learns from mistakes of the past two World Cups because there is an abundance of talent and experience on the continent.
‘We have a lot of quality talents and experience in Africa, all we need to do is to die a little more for our respective nations, be more professional in our handling of soccer administration and start to respect the fans a lot more because they are the reason we have careers as soccer stars’ Inkoom says.
The Ghanaian player who is a two time World Cup graduate with the Ghana national team the Black Stars is now plying his trade at DC United in the Major League Soccer of the USA. Inkoom tells #TheAfricanDream that Ghana’s amazing performance in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa where she became the only third African team to reach the World Cup quarter-finals shows the potential of the continent.
‘I must must confess Ghana and indeed Africa had had a bad World Cup in Brazil 2014 but Africa as a continent must look forward with hope and positivity because our present generation of Africans are living in exciting times where a lot of great feats have been achieved by people simply coming together in solidarity to pursue a cause, watch the news yourselves’.
When asked about the ongoing process of his native Ghana to select a new coach and whether he preferred a foreign coach to a local one, the DC United player explained that he personally does not care what coach the Ghana Football Association ends up picking for the Black Stars because he is ever ready to work with who ever if they invite him to join the team.
‘Africa really needs to get her acts together and clean up the football administrations across the continent because players have always been ready to win trophies, they just need professional support from their nation’s soccer authorities who must also understand the seriousness of the modern business of soccer, or as we call it in Africa — football’.
‘My greatest dream growing up as a child in Ghana (west Africa) was to play in the FIFA World Cup. As we speak today I have already lived that dream, twice. My new dream is to now win the world cup or at least see an African country win it in the next two events’. Inkoom believes as a continent, Africa must not limit herself with any thoughts of impossibility and Ghana must lead the way in that thought process as the eye of Africa.
The DC United player says for now he just wants to help his American team win trophies. United is at the top of the Eastern Conference of the US Major League Soccer table which is something Inkoom is really excited about. He says he is proud of his fellow African teammates in the team and all the support and welcome he is getting from the entire team, its administrators and fans.
25 year old Samuel Inkoom credits his present success to every single Ghanaian coach he has worked under, both local and foreign but he strongly believes he is who is today because of all the love and support he gets from his fans wherever he has played in the world. ‘This is why I feel Africa owes soccer fans on the continent a great duty to win the FIFA World Cup — and soon.