GRi Sports News Ghana 13 - 07 - 2001
Ghana's World Cup qualification in the hands
of God - Abedi
Satellites performance is hope for revival -
Ben Koufie
Ghana's World Cup qualification in the
hands of God - Abedi
Accra (Greater Accra) 13 July 2001
Abedi Ayew Pele, a member of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Management Board has said that Ghana's World Cup qualification rests on God and that the dream is not over until the final match is played.
"We leave it to God to decide, because four out of the five countries in the group including Ghana stand a chance of qualifying, and we leave it to God to decide", Pele told the GNA in Accra on Thursday.
He said hitherto, nobody had given the Ghanaians a dog's chance of making to Korea/Japan next year, "but I have always said that it is not over until the final match is played".
Ghana is paired with Nigeria, Liberia, Sudan and Sierra Leone in what has now been tagged the group of uncertainties.
The Super Eagles top the pack on 13 points followed by Liberia who are on 12 while Ghana has bagged in eight points with a game more than the others and Sudan and Sierra Leone are on nine and four points respectively.
Abedi who arrived from the FIFA congress in Argentina on Wednesday expressed optimism of Black Stars victory on Sunday against Sudan in Accra and urged all Ghanaians to keep their fingers crossed so that the "mathematics" works in our favour.
GFA Chairman Ben Koufie, who said the Ghana can only be sure after Sunday's game involving the Stars/Sudan and Liberia and Sierra Leone, further buttressed his points.
Mr Koufie said much as he agrees that it would be very difficult for Liberia to beat Sierra Leon in Freetown, it's not impossible and Ghanaians would only have to hope and pray.
A win by Liberia would mean that Nigeria would have to beat Ghana to qualify, a task many connoisseurs believe would be extremely difficult.
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Satellites performance is hope for revival
- Ben Koufie
Accra (Greater Accra) 13 July 2001
Mr Ben Koufie, chairman of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has said that the performance of the Black Satellites in Argentina is a bedrock of hope that Ghana football is on the threshold of a great revival.
In an interview with the GNA Sports on Thursday, the GFA chairman said the quality of play of the team in the World Youth Championship would offer selectors a wider field to choose from to form a formidable senior national team that would ride high on the continent.
He said it would not be appropriate to promote the entire team to form the Meteors or the Black Stars to prosecute the 2002 African Nations Cup in Mali, the 2004 Olympic games and the 2006 World Cup campaigns because there are other players in the present Black Stars who are very young and would be relevant to those competitions.
Mr Koufie said there are some very promising players in the Starlets, too who would be ripe enough to challenge members of the other teams for shirts in the Black Stars, adding that progression in football is not automatic.
"Some of the players would actually merit selection into the Black Stars but others whose forms might plummet would have to give way to players from other squads."
The GFA chairman said the dragnet of selection should be thrown wider in order to get the best materials available at any given time to don the national colours so that Ghana is represented by the best qualified players in every competition.
On the Satellites loss to Argentina in the final match, Mr Koufie said though the boys could not play to the best of their abilities, probably due to tension, they were not disgraced.
He said the Argentines were tactically superior as they regrouped quickly to contest the ball any time they lost possession while the build up of the Satellites was slow.
Mr Koufie said the Argentines countered swiftly when they regained the ball and created tension in our defensive third while the Satellites forays were easily warded off because of the slow pace.
The GFA chairman described the Argentine team as "a total team which was very well prepared and had quality players in every department and it required something extra to beat a team like that."
He said the boys however deserved commendation for having gone that far, adding that the Ghanaian team received rave reviews in the Argentine media, which expressed surprised at the quality of football of the Satellites.
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