Attuquayefio still interested in coaching Black Stars
"Home team take all" killing competition in league - Dr Frimpong
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 January 2002 - Contrary to the assumption that Black Stars coach, Fred Osam Duodu, is undertaking the job without any kind of remuneration, the coach has been receiving something “substantial”.
Apart from his salary as the Technical Director of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), the coach is said to be receiving an additional allowance for being responsible for the national team, sports bi-weekly Graphic Sports reported.
Indeed since last November 2001, coach Osam Duodu has been receiving an allowance almost four times the basic salary paid him for his normal job, according to the paper’s investigations.
The search further revealed that the GFA decided to give Osam Duodu some kind of incentive while awaiting a decision from the ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS) on his job and situation since the remuneration of senior national team coaches are normally decided and effected by the ministry.
Last week coach Osam-Duodu stirred some controversy when he was alleged to have requested that he be treated like a “white coach” and paid salary equal to that which would be given a foreign coach during an interview wit a journalist from Agence France Presse.
Coach Osam Duodu later came out to deny that he had made such demands, explaining that the French journalist who was not fluent in English had misinterpreted him. A GFA spokesman, however, expressed surprise at coach Osam Duodu’s interview. He said as an ‘internal issue’ the GFA was surprised that the coach went out of his way to make such demands without as much as hinting anyone that he was dissatisfied with the allowance he is being paid.
“Since Osam Duodu is already an employee of the GFA, the two parties could not have entered into a contract on the additional job, and if he really wanted a better contractual agreement the best thing was for him to resign and then apply for the job,” the spokesman stressed.
According to the spokesman, the element of surprise and disappointment were even greater since coach Osam Duodu who had received his additional allowance for November and December expressed satisfaction about the deal and never complained when he received the pay vouchers.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
By Sammy Okaitey
Mopti (Mali) 29 January 2002 - The Black Stars of Ghana moved into the heart of the Malian desert on Monday only to discover that the weather and sand may pose a thougher challenge than the national team of Burkina Faso, the Stallions.
It is too early to identify any casualties but the certainties are that the dry air in Segou which caused goalkeeper Abubakari Kankani to bleed from the nose is drier, the afternoon sun hotter and the night weather close to winter.
In such unfriendly weather with plenty of dust, the two teams will meet in a make or break encounter in Mopti while South Africa and Morocco play in Segou simultaneously to determine the two teams from Group B to make it into the quarterfinals.
Not too different from the weather conditions back at home, Burkina Faso are dead serious and angry, according to their Argentine Coach, Luis Oscar Fullone. Serious about the win or burst condition we find ourselves in and angry that for all that Burkina Faso has proved now and in the past, “we are being discussed here as if our role is to act as sparring partners for the real competitors, not being given any chance at all.”
He said it will take another shock of Ghana for the rest of Africa to learn that gone are the days when Burkina Faso made the numbers only to dissipate the energies of the elites. In contemporary African football, some who failed to notice this change have learnt it bitterly when Burkina Faso hosted the games in 1998.
While they continued proving the experts wrong, each stage of their conquest was labelled an upset till the coronation of the Stallions as the fourth strongest team on the continent, leaving in their trail scarred egos of some pre-tournament favourites like Guinea, Tunisia and Algeria.
The architect of that history was Frenchman Pillipe Troussier, nicknamed the White Wizard for his expertise in African football, acquired from Nigeria to South Africa. And in the current Argentine coach, the Stallions have a man of similar depth in the African game, after coaching two African club sides to win the CAF Champions League titles.
In 1998, he was the coach of Ivorian side, Asec Mimmosa, when they won the title and he repeated the feat in 1999 with Raja Casablanca of Morocco. With all these up his sleeves, the talkative of a coach seems to be enjoying his underdog status.
“With all these up his sleeves, the talkative of a coach seems to be enjoying his underdog status. “We have drawn one match and lost one; we have nothing more to lose so our plan is to hold nothing back but to attack with courage. If we are to lose, we would lose fighting and not being afraid of anything.”
He seems to have so much faith in his players that the Burkinabe appear the most unrestrained group in the tournament. At their camp base in Segou, if not on the field playing or training, the Burkinabe players could be seen leisurely in the streets hanging out with thousands of their supporters who have crossed the border into Mali to cheer them up. And sometimes at hours that could earn a Ghanaian or Moroccan players a caution or an expulsion.
Not a Burkinabe player. And Fullone is serious about it. They need that kind of freedom and touch of a home feeling to produce their best when they are asked to. Their youthful enthusiasm (six of their starting line-up are products of the Under-17 team which played in the World three years ago) will once again challenge the marksmanship of the Black Stars.
Yet to score a goal, the only card Ghana coach Osam Duodu has not played yet is the multiple talents of Emmanuel Osei Kuffour. In the two matches that Ghana played against Morocco and Burkina Faso, Kuffor started and ended on the bench. And though unwilling to discuss team selection, Osam may be under some pressure to play him this time even if from the bench.
Having exhibited all the flair and woeful inability to take chances, this may well be the Black stars only chance to avoid the Zambian or Ivorian-style tragedies when they played all the game and left the clinical finishes to Senegal and Cameroon respectively.
The line-up of Ghanaian talents as well as the strategy for the avoidance of another no-show for the Black Stars is, for the moment, held close to Osam Duodu’s chest and dear to many Ghanaian hearts, especially the 30 or so Supporters Group who undertook a two-day journey from Ghana to liven up the Stars’ training and matches.
The Burkinabe, Ivorian and Senegalese presence are the heaviest felt in this West African town apart from the Malian. But the feeling is controlled by Ghana musically. On the day Ghana played and drew with Morocco, the Atlas Lions were eager to counter the Ghanaian support so they hired a group of Malian flute blowers and equipped them with Moroccan T-shirts, caps and flags to cheer them on.
But when they could not resist it, some of them abandoned the Moroccan flags and secretly joined the rhythms from the Ghanaian drums and horns. The Moroccan officials were quick to detect it and fired them instantly. The Black Stars supporters will be on hand again to charge the atmosphere, drum and trumpet home the only certainty about the game that Ghana cannot afford to lose.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Mopti (Mali) 29 January 2002 - The Super Eagles of Nigeria cruised to the quarterfinal stage of the 23rd African Cup of Nations when they pipped the Lone Stars of Liberia by a lone goal at the Barema Bogoum Stadium in Mopti on Monday night.
Julius Aghahowa struck in the 62nd minute to produce the only goal of the match and push the Nigerians atop group A with seven points, two points ahead of Mali who also scale through after overwhelming Algeria by two goals to nil in Bamako.
It was a very tactical game in which the two sides sought openings at the rear of their opponents but fluffed many scoring chances as they came. Crayton Louis in the Liberian goal produced an excellent performance as he denied the Nigerians many clear chances.
The Liberian goalkeeper saved a penalty from Finidi George in the 38th minute and made mincemeat of thunderous shots from Garba Lawal on two occasions and
Austin Okocha.
Craytons inspirational goalkeeping gingered his team-mates and they occasionally confused the Eagles with their attacking options. Sleek playing Prince Daye tore through the Nigerian defence time and again but caption George Weah and Frank Seator were defeated in physical battles any time they came face to face with the Eagles.
Taribi West at the centre of the Nigerian defence was ably supported by Yobe Joseph and Ifeanyi Udeze to thwart the Liberian attack and ensured that the Eagles remain in Bamako to play the runners up in Group B, while Mali travels to the Western tip of their country in Kayes to challenge the winner in Group B.
Ghana is in Group B with Burkina Faso, Morocco and South Africa and play their last group matches on Wednesday. If Ghana beats the Burkinabes and qualifies as runner
up of Group B, the Black Stars will move to Bamako to confront the Nigerians but if the Moroccans flop against South Africa and Ghana tops the group, then, the Stars will go to Kayes to play the hosts, Mali.
For the Liberians and the Algerians, it is the end of the road at the 23rd edition of the Nations Cup and probably a befitting testimonial for George Weah who announced his retirement from international football at the end of the match.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 26 January 2002- The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) have launched a campaign in partnership with the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) towards the eradication of child labour in Africa.
The campaign, dubbed "Red Card to Child Labour", was intended to coincide with the Cup of Nations tournament in Mali and would be extend to the rest of the world from Africa to Latin America, Asia and Europe through the football game.
A campaign material distributed to the media in Accra on Saturday said millions of children in Africa are robbed of the chance for education and a better life.
"Virtually all of Africa's child labourers are condemned to lifelong poverty. It is a blight on Africa's present and a mortgage on Africa's future," the ILO said.
It said it was in the spirit of inspiration and hope that it had launched the "Red Card to Child Labour" campaign so that billions of people in Africa and throughout the world would through the tournament hear the message that the worst forms of child labour must be eradicated as a matter of urgency.
It said the campaign also aims to seize the opportunity offered by the Cup of Nations 2002 to make the public aware of the harsh reality of child labour and to encourage people to support the global movement against child labour.
The ILO explained the reason for the partnership with CAF saying, "many of the football players who have gathered in Mali for the Cup of Nations tournament have overcome similar circumstances of severe poverty to become the champions they are today".
It also plans to build partnerships around these events because of the unique opportunity they offer to reach unprecedented numbers of people throughout the world with the simple message.
"The ultimate event in this campaign hopefully will be to celebrate the universal ratification of the convention against the worst forms of child labour at the World Cup football tournament in 2006."
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Segou (Mali) 29 January 2002 - The Black Stars who played a second consecutive draw at the 23rd African Cup of Nations in the Malian city of Segou on Thursday have been paid a winning bonus for their commitment and valour in the encounter against South Africa.
This was sequel to an order by Mr Edward Osei Kwaku, Minister of Youth and Sports that the boys should be paid winning bonuses for the their level of commitment and the quality of football they played in their second match.
Mr Ben Koufie, chairman of the GFA told the GNA that the minister's decision is to boost the morale of the players and ginger them up to stake their lives for Ghana in the final group match against Burkina Faso at Mopti on Wednesday, January 30.
He said the Minister wanted to make the boys to realise that Ghanaians love them and cherish their contributions towards national development through football and in so doing, encourage them to give of the best in the next encounter which has vital consequences on Ghana's participation.
He said the boys have shown that Ghana abounds in talents and with the right attitude and some level of patriotism, “we could redeem our sinking soccer image.”
He agreed with the minister that the team played with a lot of conviction and commitment and said if they could “maintain that standard or go a little bit beyond it, we'll be on the right track.”
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Segou (Mali) 29 January 2002 - The superlative performance of the Black Stars in the group match against Bafana Bafana has created a lot of bad blood in the South African Camp.
The South Africans who had predicted a massive three-goal victory over the Stars are now blaming their coach, Carlos Queiroz for relying on foreign players who are not better than some of their home based stars.
Mr Emmanuel Cele, the Segou anchor of City Press of Johannesburg, told the GNA that all that the coach is interested in is to enrich his CV with a world cup appearance.
He said though Benny McCarthy has not been playing well these days he is in the team because it was the coach who arranged his transfer to his present club in Portugal and would therefore like to advertise him.
Mr Cele said the popular feeling among South Africans “in Mali and back home is that the coach should be fired and replaced with a South African who will have national pride to defend.”
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 January 2002 - Coach Jones Attuquayefio, head coach of Accra Hearts of Oak, said he was still interested in handling the senior national team, the Black Stars, after he was relieved of the job a year ago.
He said it was the pride of every coach to be the helmsman of a national team especially the Black Stars. The coach who was speaking on TV3's popular current affairs programme, "Hot Issues" on Saturday and monitored by the GNA Sports touched on a wide range of issues relating to the performance of the Black Stars at the on-going CAN 2002 in Mali and the development of soccer in general.
Asked by the host Osei Boakye, whether coach Osam Duodu should be fired if he failed to glitter in Mali, Attuquayefio who appeared evasive said a coach's job was insecure adding that one could only maintain the job by performing well.
He was very optimistic that the Black Stars would get "somewhere" and probably to the final. The coach noted that the Stars opening match was scrappy but said if what he saw in the second match against South Africa was anything to go by then the boys would go far.
Coach Attuquayefio took over the reigns of Italian coach Guiseppe Dossena as helmsman of the Stars in December 2000 but was relieved of the post months later after a fallout with Vice Chairman of the Ghana Football Association, Mr Emmanuel Owusu Ansah.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Kumasi Asante Kotoko Board
of Directors Re-constituted.
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 29 January 2002 - The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11, on Saturday appointed a new 12-member Board of Directors for the Kumasi Asante Kotoko Football Club.
The board will see to the policy direction of the club until a time that the club will float its shares to the public to become a limited liability company.
Members of the board included Mr Paul Victor Obeng, Mr Awuah Nyamekye, Mr Acheampong Kyei, Mr Malik Jabir and Colonel George Patrenten. The rest were Alhaji Mahama, Mr Kwabena Kesse, Mr Kwabena Amoakohene, Mr John Taylor, Mr Herbert Mensah, Mr I.J. Moukazel and Mr Arnold Prempeh, who will serve as legal advisor to the board.
The Asantehene also appointed the former Chairman of the club, Mr Herbert Mensah, as the Chief Executive to see to the day-to-day running of the club.
Addressing the Kotoko congress where the names of the board of directors were announced, Otumfuo Osei Tutu said the board would also review the constitution of the club to make it move with the modern trend of business.
He said a time had come to run the club in a business manner adding that members of the board included professionals, businessmen and entrepreneurs who had proven records in their various endeavours.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu warned that the time that some people used the club to amass wealth was over and there was the need to get people with vision and dedication to build the club. He called for harmonious relationship between members of the board and the management to bring the club back to its feet.
The former Chairman of the club, Mr Herbert Mensah, announced that management had recruited four new players into the team for 2002 Africa Cup Winners Cup. They are George Paintsil of Arsenals, George Owu (Hasaacas), Nana Arhia Duah and Arminu Musah, (Obuasi Goldfields).
A member of the management team, Mr George Amoako, announced that management was recruiting seven new players for this season at a total cost of ¢1.9 billion while drawing and estimates for the construction of a modern secretariat complex had been completed and sod cutting ceremony would be held in
February to begin actual construction works.
He said the club would need about ¢12.3 billion cedis for its programmes and activities.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra 29 January 2002 - Dr Felix Frimpong, Board Chairman of the Okwawu United, has recommended the abolishment of the "home team takes all policy" to stop the league from turning into a two-team league.
Speaking to the GNA Sports, Dr Frimpong said the policy seemed to have been designed to favour the two big clubs, Hearts and Kotoko, who have at their disposal state owned stadiums to "reap money at the expense of the smaller clubs."
"We the smaller clubs are being made to work for the big clubs since we do not have the facilities of the sizes that they are using hence the little we make from gate proceeds is not enough to ensure our survival. How do you expect a small deprived club from the north with limited resources to come to Accra after camping its boys and paying their allowances to survive under this situation."
He said this situation does not make economic sense therefore "if the authorities want to see a more interesting and opened league with every competing team having an equal chance of winning the league then the earlier such a negative policy is done away with the better for Ghana soccer."
Dr Frimpong said the Ghana Football Association is giving the impression that it does not have the plight of the smaller clubs at heart hence the numerous calls by clubs to have this policy repealed have gone unheeded.
He said to ensure that football develops; the authorities should come out with policies that would ensure that the little resource of clubs are used for the development of the game rather than on recurrent expenditure.
Dr Frimpong said a team like Okwawu has no facility to write home about, the fencing is not good; security is poor on match days whiles the National Sports Council seemed not to care.
In the face of all these problems, Dr Frimpong was optimistic of the chances of his team in the up-coming league season promising supporters of a new Okwawu United full of promise.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@Ghanareview.com