Ghana loses Hudson-Odoi forever as young player makes senior team debut for England

Sports News from Sunday, March 24, 2019

Source: GHANAsoccernet.com

2019-03-24

Ghanaian hopes of calming the awesome Callum Hudson-Odoi before the 2019 Nations Cup of Nations were completely wiped out after the young man made his debut in the senior national team of England .

The son of former Hearts of Oak midfielder Bismark Odoi made his England debut in a competitive match when he qualified in the Three Lions 5-0 win against the Czech Republic in the qualifiers for Euro 2020 on Friday.

This means that the Chelsea star will not be able to change nationality to allow her to play for Ghana, as FIFA's nationality rules prevent players who have played at the highest level from changing international allegiance.

This 18-year-old father, whose father played for Ghana, was one of the players targeted by the Ghanaian football authorities for a change of nationality before the flagship tournament of African football to be held in Egypt in June.

The Black Stars sealed first place qualifying Saturday and hoped to prepare by strengthening the team to allow them to play their fifth title in Egypt, with Hudson-Odoi among the main targets.

Despite a limited playing time with Chelsea coach Sarri, the young player has scored five times in 19 games in all competitions, although he has not yet taken off in the Premier League.

In what appeared to be an attempt to prevent the Hudson-Odoi from playing for Ghana, he had been summoned for under-21s in England, but coach Gareth Southgate had recently invited him to prepare for qualifying. against the Czech Republic and Montenegro.

Hudson-Odoi broke a 64-year-old record and became the youngest player to make his England debut in a competitive game when he triumphed in the 5-0 victory of the Three Lions against the Republic. Czech.

Hudson-Odoi replaced Raheem Sterling after 70 minutes and won his first international selection at the age of 18 and 135 days, beating the record of former Manchester United striker Duncan Edwards.

Edwards was 48 days older than Hudson-Odoi when he made his Three Lions debut in a draw between the British Home Championship and Scotland in April 1955.

The delicate widower also had a positive impact, his late goal being sealed by goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka on the trajectory of Tomas Kalas, who inadvertently deflected into his own net to complete the goal.

The Chelsea winger was born to an English mother and a Ghanaian father. He therefore had the right to play for Ghana and should have changed his allegiance as he had already done for the English youth.

His debut puts an end to Ghana's pursuit of the extremely talented young player who could strengthen the Black Stars team in the future.

With the Africa Cup of Nations looming in Egypt, it was thought that coach Kwesi Appiah, who was playing alongside the father of Ghana's young player, could push for a change. of nationality for the winger.

While Hudson-Odoi made his debut in England since the weekend, he could not play for his father's country forever, as the FIFA rules currently do not allow it.