Highly talented central midfielder of Ghana Premier League side Obuasi AshantiGold SC, Seth Osei, has challenged that scoring an own goal in a football match is not news therefore he sees nothing wrong with the same feat occurring in Ghana.
The youngster’s remarks follow a two and half year ban placed on him by the Ghana Football Association for his involvement in match manipulation in a game between his side and Inter Allies.
In the said matchday 34 game staged at the Obuasi Len Clay Stadium in last season’s Ghana Premier League competition, the Miners thrashed the ‘Eleven is one’ side 7-0 in a match that became suspicious following the circumstances under which the goals were scored.
During the match, Hashmin Musah, a defender of Inter Allies who was introduced into the match in the second half scored two own goals and later admitted in a radio interview that his action was to spoil the planned manipulation of the match, based on the information he had.
Some players and officials of both clubs have since been banned on various grounds for match manipulation. The two clubs have also been demoted to Division Two, according to a verdict by the Disciplinary Committee of the GFA.
But Seth Osei, whose ban takes effect next season, defended that scoring own goals in football matches is normal and sees nothing wrong with Hashmin Musah also becoming a victim to the circumstance.
The embattled player justifying his claim said that, ‘Manchester United and England’s defender, Harry Maguire, is also fond of scoring own goals in the World’s best league, the English Premier League.
“Hashmin Musah scoring own goals is not news, a lot of white people, even Harry Maguire of Man United scores own goals so if he [Hashmin] scores himself, it is not news. He decided to score himself so I don’t have any issue against him,” Seth Osei told Bright Kamkam Boadu on Pure Sports.
The 22-year-old insisted that the match “remains competitive” despite the prosecution terming the match as fixed.
“As far as I’m concerned, I know we played a competitive game and there was no match-fixing. For me I know I’m innocent,” he concluded.
