Former Captain of Ghana Under 17 National team, Black Starlets, Sebastian Barnes has revealed that former Minister of Sports, E.T Mensah ensured he never had a call up to play for any national team after he questioned him over the team’s winning bonus at the 1993 U 17, World Cup.
According to him, he paid dearly for daring to ask Hon. E.T Mensah what was legitimately theirs.
“We had played the tournament to the Semi-Finals stage but not a word had been told us about our winning bonus. My colleagues then piled pressure on me as the Captain of the team to ask the Minister about our bonus. All the players knew the number of matches we had played and had done their own calculations and what items we’ll use our winning bonus to buy. I walked up to Hon. E.T Mensah and asked him about the bonus, but he got angry and told me I don’t respect and that, he would make sure that, that was the last time I was playing for a national team,” Sebastian Barnes told Soccer Life, aired on Adom TV.
The 1993 Starlets Captain who was also an integral part of the 1991 squad that won the World Cup in Italy said he nailed his own coffin with that move as true to Hon. E.T Mensah’s word he ensured that he was never invited to play for any national team after he last featured in 1993 FIFA Under 17 World cup.
Ghana’s 1993 Starlets team were beaten by their Nigerian counterparts (Golden Eaglets) in the FIFA Under 17 World Cup finals played in Japan.
Club career
Barnes began his career with Hearts of Oak, before playing for top-level German teams Bayer 04 Leverkusen and 1. FSV Mainz 05. In 1997, Barnes played for the Orlando Sundogs in the USISL A-League. After leaving Mainz in 1998, Barnes played for a number of lower league German clubs, including VfL Hamm/Sieg and SF Neitersen.
International career
After representing Ghana at the FIFA U-17 World Championship in both 1991 and 1993, Barnes earned one cap for the senior team in 1994.
