By Agency Report

It has been revealed that the Ghana U-17 team deployed the services of a ritualist to win the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Cup, however, the voodoo they used backfires, allegedly, after the officials of the team failed to show appreciation to the ritualist

Former Ghana U-17 captain, Emmanuel Bentil who disclosed this, said the Black Starlet’s squad of 1995 suffered consistent injuries after officials of the team failed to show appreciation to the spiritualist who helped the team to win 1995 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Ecuador

The former Bayern Munich youth player said officials engaged the services of a ritualist who made them undergo some rituals in Accra before their triumph at the tournament hosted by Ecuador.

According to Ghanaweb Bentil claims after the tournament the officials failed to show their appreciation which affected the players negatively.

“Most of us ended up with knee injuries,” he said on GTV Sports+

When asked whether the injuries might be due to wear and tear, Bentil said: “Not like the way it happened to the whole group.”

The former Okwawu player recounted the exact ritual the team performed under the guidance of officials before the tournament.

“The whole team had to go there and pray. They will pray and call the saints and sometimes you can hear things, noise and something will come out from the sea… ‘Like maame water’ (mermaid)” he added.

Emmanuel Bentil scored the winning goal to aid Ghana in a 3-2 win over Brazil in the final.

Ghana won all six matches at the tournament scoring not less than 1 goal in five of the games apart from the 1-0 win over Japan in their group opener.

Members of the squad included: Richard Ackon, Charles Akwei, Raymond Fenny, Christian Saba, Baba Sule, Christian Gyan, Awudu Issaka, David Amoako, Emanuel Bentil, Abu Iddrisu, Joseph Ansah, Dini Kamara, Attakora Amaniampong, Patrick Allotey, Stephen Appiah, Bashiru Gambo, Kwaku Kyere, Michael Abu.

Among the aforementioned names, Appiah turned out to be a big name in Ghana football and Africa.

The FIFA U-17 World Championship 1995, the sixth edition of the tournament, was held in Ecuador between 3 and 20 August 1995