Stars to put icing on cake on Sunday
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 June 2001
Black Stars caretaker coach, Fred Osam Duodo, has threatened the Ghana Football Association (GFA) that he will not travel with the team for the World Cup qualifier against the Lone Stars of Liberia on June 30, if Hearts and Kotoko fail to release their players for the match.
The coach told the GNA Sports in Accra on Monday that the two teams provide the chunk of the local professionals and their absence would affect the performance of the team.
He said even though the chances of the Stars look quite bleak, "our position on the table at the end of the qualifying matches would determine our classification by FIFA".
Hearts and Kotoko are due to participate in a four-team special championship including Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, both of South Africa to raise funds for the families of those who lost their lives at both the Accra Sports Stadium disaster and the Johannesburg's huge Ellis Park Stadium tragedy in South Africa.
At least 126 soccer fans perished in Accra when Hearts clash with Kotoko in an epic Star Premier league encounter on May 9, while 43 were crushed to death at the Ellis Park on April 11 when the two arch rivals, Orlando Pirates and Kaiser Chiefs met.
The championship is to be played just around the same time that the Stars would be engaging the Lone Stars in Monrovia.
Liberia lead the group with 12 points followed by Nigeria on 10, Ghana seven, Sierra Leone four and Sudan stuck at the bottom on three points.
The Black Stars lost 0-3 to the Lone Stars in Accra in the first leg and are bent on avenging the defeat.
However, some of the Hearts players the GNA Sports spoke with at the GAF secretariat before their departure to the Winneba Sports College for camping said they would prefer playing in the South African championship than to feature for the Stars.
They contended that they stand a better chance of being expose to the international transfer market than playing in Liberia.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 June 2001
By: Daniel Kenu
As the senior national team, the Black Stars, clash with Lesotho this Sunday in their final group six Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, they would be doing so with only one aim, to put the icing on the cake.
Ghana last week booked a place for next year's game slated for Mali with a dramatic 2-1 victory over the Warriors of Zimbabwe, thus making Sunday's game a mere formality to enhance their ego.
While the Stars may be riding high with four points more than their closest rivals Lesotho with six points, the other three countries would be struggling for a slot to join Ghana from the group.
Zimbabwe, believed to have been cursed by coach Ben Koufie to the effect that they would never qualify for the Africa soccer elite game, can still scrap through if they manage a draw in faraway Kinshasa and pray that Ghana beat Lesotho with whom they are tied at six points apiece, but with inferior goals.
But this task could be a very herculean one, knowing what DR Congo who have five points, also needs a win badly with the hope that Ghana beat Lesotho.
This gamble by the rest of the countries in the group, especially DR Congo and Zimbabwe, provides the Black Stars the leverage to determine which country should join her to Mali next year.
Caretaker coach Fred Osam Duodo has named a 21-man squad to report at the Winneba Sports College to prepare towards executing that task.
The squad, built around the young men who battled the Warriors in Zimbabwe, has been given an additional boost with the inclusion of Emmanuel Duah and Stephen Appiah, both playing in Italy.
Appiah's absence for instance, was greatly felt in Harare such that coach Osam Duodo and his deputy, Francis Oti Akenteng, decided to convert striker Issah Mohammed to the midfield to play that role.
Initially, it was very tough for the young talented striker, but as the game progressed, he was able with the support of his senior colleagues like Princeston Owusu Ansah and Kofi Amoako, to weather the storm.
The inclusion of these two Stars - Duah and Appiah and Baffour Gyan, who plays for Slovan Lebrek in the Czech Republic, could end the dream of Lesotho, who drew 3-3 in the first leg with the Stars, to make it to Mali.
Much as the Stars could be rated as favourites in this encounter, any attempt to underrate Lesotho could be disastrous.
In fact, in the first leg, the Stars had to struggle to pull level, thanks to last minute goals by Nana Arhin Duah. This alone is a great testimony to the fact that the visitors would not be pushovers.
Ghana's soccer has slumped in recent times and their rating at the world level has also shrunk; it is, therefore, very necessary for them to start winning some of these matches, irrespective of the circumstances and capitalise on the occasion to bring back the hope and confidence of the once feared soccer nation.
GRi…/
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