‘We prayed to marine spirits to win Ecuador ’95’ – Ex-Ghana U17 captain Emmanuel Bentil reveals

Former Ghana U17 captain Emmanuel Bentil has revealed how players of the Ecuador 1995 squad were affected by the use of black power.

The ex-Bayern Munich player discloses that several players from that victorious team went on to fail in their careers because they never paid homage to the marine spirits.

Ghana won its second FIFA U17 World Cup in Ecuador in 1995 after beating Brazil in the final in Quito. Emmanuel Bentil, captain of the victorious Black Starlets team in 1995, has made a shocking revelation about how several players from that team failed to reach their potential following their success in Ecuador.

The team that defeated Brazil in the final to win Ghana’s second U17 World Cup had several top players including the darling boy Awudu Issaka, Baba Sule, and Stephen Appiah.

In an interview with Lifestyle TV, Bentil opened up on how the team consulted marine spirits to aid them to win the cup.

“We went to certain places for rituals to win games. I remember even when I played munched (a highly competitive local football game in the 80s and 90s where teams and individuals stake bets on the outcome of matches) at Chorkor, a suburb of Accra. We used to go to the beach maybe at midnight; at 1 clock in the morning or 2 O clock in the morning,” he said.

“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.

The former Bayern Munich prodigy also explained many players from that team went on to sustain career-threatening injuries because they failed to show appreciation to a certain spiritual leader, who is known as Acquah Isaac.

He mentioned the names of Stephen Appiah, Awudu Issaka, Christian Atta Gyan, Attakora Amaniampong, Abu Iddrisu, and Charles Allotey.