Former Ghana Midfielder Reveals How Age Cheating Nearly Ended His Life

• Joe Tagoe has disclosed how age-cheating affected his career
• The former Hearts of Oak midfielders career was thwarted after landing a deal in Egypt
• Tagoe played for the youth teams of Ghana

Former Hearts of Oak and Ebusua Dwarfs midfielder, Joe Tagoe has narrated how he almost exchanged his life for money after reducing his age to secure a contract abroad.

Tagoe decreased his age to 21 after earning a deal to play in Egypt.

However, it ended up affecting his move after he was handed rigorous training routines. He trained with the first team and youth side regularly.

After realizing he could not meet up with the demands of the club, he immediately quit and returned to Ghana.

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"I got injured and tried to get back. Nii Lante Bannerman wanted to help me so I started training because by then I looked heavier than how I am now. I went to Egypt and changed my age to 21,” he told Dan Kwaku Yeboah, as quoted by Pulse.

“The coach thought I was indeed 21 due to my height, so whenever we close from training, he will tell me to join the under-20 side to train.

“The way the boys were running I realized I couldn’t cheat nature and I don’t take care I will exchange my life with money so I had to come home.”

Tagoe's diminutive nature made it difficult to tell his real age and during his time in the Ghana Premier League, he was one of the best dribblers.

Many wondered why his career did not take off as it should have, considering his enormous talent.

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Tagoe represented Ghana at youth levels before hanging up his boots in 2019 after last playing for Ebusua Dwarfs.

Nyaho-Tamakloe opens up on age-cheating

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that former Chairman of the Ghana Football Association, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe believes a majority of the Black Galaxies players sent to Algeria for the CHAN tournament were over the age of 35.

Ghana's home-based team was shockingly knocked out of the tournament by minnows Niger after a 2-0 defeat in the quarterfinals in Oran.

According to Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, players of the Black Galaxies struggled to match the pace and stamina of the Nigeriens because they were over-age.