According to the fixtures in
Zone 3A released in Accra on Monday by the DOL Management Board, Tema Real
Sportive meet Sportnet at the Tema Stadium in a local
derby, King Solomon Stars vie with Seven United at Dawu,
Midtjilland F.C. play Diamond Stars at Koforidua
while Afienya United lock horns with Kwaebibirem at the Accra Stadium on Saturday.
In Zone 3B, Prampram
Mighty Royals face Kpando Hearts of Lions at Legon,
Stay Cool Professionals engage Tema GHAPOHA at Ho, VORADEP encounters Delorm Royals at the
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And
players of the Stars are worried that if immediate steps are not taken to find
a solution to the coaching problem, the complex problems of the Stars could be
worsened.
According
to the players interviewed by leading sports bi-weekly, Graphic Sports, what is
happening to the national team should be a source of worry to anyone who has
the team at heart as it is turning the nation, with its proud record on the
international scene, into a laughing stock now.
The
foreign-based players, most of whom are in town for
the Christmas and winter break from their respective European leagues, feel the
national team is losing its focus and impact on the international scene because
of the nation's inability to keep a coach for long.
"While
it may be no fault of the authorities, the rather frequent changes of the
technical handlers of the team is no doubt having an adverse effect on the team
as there is no particular plan of activities for the Stars save the qualifiers
for the 2002 Nations Cup," the players lamented.
The
players most of whom featured in the North versus South Professionals match at
the Accra Stadium last Sunday, said the lack of training matches or any
official programme for the national team, forced them into organising that
match to bring them together.
"In
the past, the Christmas break provided one great opportunity of bringing us
together to play in a friendly either international or local. That is the time
the coach gets to assess all of us. "This time round, nothing like that
happened, with the nation and the acting head coach losing out on the
opportunity to assess the materials he could work with while he is still in
charge," the players lamented.
"Though
we may not have the power to call the two parties to take a definite stand
immediately, we are genuinely worried about the team considering the fact that
it has to prepare for the Nations Cup qualifiers this year. There may be a
feeling that June (that is when the Stars play their next Nations Cup qualifier
against Rwanda) is a long time away, but considering what is happening, we
could be overtaken by events," they added.
While
the Youth and Sports minister, Hon Edward Osei-Kwaku
is insisting that the nation is broke and can therefore not afford to hire an
expatriate, the GFA boss, Mr Ben Koufie, thinks that
the job offer should be open to all who qualify and not restricted to only
indigenous trainers. And observers attribute the delay in the appointment of a
substantive Black Stars coach to this impasse.
This
development has made it a big task looking for a replacement after Yugoslav
Milan Zivadinovic unceremoniously vacated his job of
three months and E.K Afranie was appointed a
caretaker coach.
Though
the GFA has extended the date of appointing a new coach from January 1 to
February 15, it is not clear if the final choice would be a compromised one
between the GFA and the MOYS, who are responsible for paying the coach's wages.
Meanwhile,
former Obuasi Goldfields Dutch coach, Hans Van Plume,
has joined the list of coaches who have applied for the Stars' job.Vans Plume, who left Goldfields last season after his
contract, becomes the second Dutch and the fourth expatriate to apply for the
job.
Willem
Leushius (Dutch), ex-Stars coach, German Bukhard Ziese and Scottish Ian Potterfield are the foreign applicants while former Stars
players, Mohammed Polo and Abdul Razak who had a
stint with the Stars as an assistant to Italian Guisseppe
Dossena three years ago, have applied.
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Bobo Dioulasso
(Burkina Faso) 07 January 2003 - Sadek Abdil Moneom, head of the
Egyptian delegation at the 13th African Youth Cup currently going on
in Burkina Faso has described the decision by the Confederation of African
Football (CAF) to put Ghana and Egypt in the same group as unfair.
In an interview with the GNA
Sports on Sunday, Moneom said the two teams should
have been seeded using their last performance at the last World Youth Cup
played in
Moneom said on paper
The Egyptian team,
composed of players mostly from the youth sides of the country's three big
clubs, Zamalek, Al Ahly and
Ishmaila have been in camp for about two months
during which time they played friendly matches against countries like
"Even though we have had a
lot of problems with some of the facilities provided, we are in a process of
dealing with them to ensure that our team gives off its best," he told the
GHA Sports.
Meanwhile,
in their opening match against Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt fought back from the brink of defeat to draw
one all with an injury time penalty to draw one all with Cote D'Ivoire in group
B second match on Sunday in the on going 13th African Youth Cup in
Burkina Faso.
The draw ensured that all the
eight teams in the tournament finish the first round of matches with a point
each as the tournament seemed to be hit by a drawing syndrome.
In a fast and entertaining
match, which was by far more interesting than the
first encounter between
The Ivorian who were a shade
above their Egyptian counterparts controlled the game especially from the left
wing where Diallo Mohammed operated effectively but
failed to increase the tally as their efforts were thwarted by the giant frame
of the Egyptian goalkeeper and skipper Ahmed Sherif
who defended his area superbly.
The second half followed in a
similar pattern as the first as Koutouan and Constant
Kipre drew rings around their opponents to win
applause from the partisan Burkinabe fans but still
the Ivorians failed to do the most important thing,
to bang in the goals.
After the hour mark, the
Egyptians settled and pushed forward in a bid to draw level after bring on Hassan Mansour for Ahmed Fathi in what proved to be a perfect substitution as the
player remained a constant threat to the Ivorian defence.
The Ivorian keeper was the
saviour of his team in the 75th minute when he dived to push to
touch Mansour goal bound shot. The Ivorians could not deal with Mansour
in the dying minutes of injury time as he was brought down in the box deep for Fathi to convert the resultant spot kick to end the match.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 07 January
2003 - Champions club, Accra Hearts begun training on Monday ahead of a
difficult year as the team prepares for the CAF African Champions' League, the
domestic league and the CHALCA Top Four League.
Head Coach, Herbert Addo, told the GNA Sports in
The team plans to use the Ghana
League Clubs Association's (GHALCA) top four competition to assess its
readiness to conquer
"I have propose
four top players but management has the final word. Hearts is the best the club
in the country, it already has good players, and therefore there would be no
need in recruiting a lot more", Coach Addo said.
He said recruiting more players
would only over stretched the club both financially and technically,
"everybody wants to play for Hearts, this is
where we have to be very careful".
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Kraboa-Coaltar (Eastern Region)
This could probably be due to
the banners, Hearts and Kotoko under which the match was organised because all
the 22 players in the game are members and supporters of the same club, Kraboa-Coaltar World Vision F/C, a division three
campaigners. Kotoko were leading 2-1 at the time the match came to an abrupt
end.
The violence started when local
referee George Ansong, who was handling the match
allowed a goal by a Kotoko player, Nana Yaw Sinkonia,
which was scored from an offside position.
Hearts supporters poured onto
the pitch to protest. But for the timely intervention by elders of the town, no
one could imagine what could have happened. Hearts opened the score with a
penalty expertly taken by Isaac Awuku but it was
quickly cancelled by Nii Odai
Tiapor of Kotoko to bring the first half scores to
1-1.
Kotoko was also awarded a
penalty in the second half, which was taken by Nii Odai Tiapor to bring the scores
to 2-1. The organizer, Christopher Hlodai, secretary
of the World Vision F/C told the GNA sports that the match could have ended
peacefully but for the tag of the two great clubs on the match.
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Kadjebi (Volta Region)
They are Godwin Dzamefe and Benjamin Denteh who
each received a cash prize of ˘50,000 and a wall clock and, a tin of milo and a bar of soap. Bidjon Kudjoe who came third received a satchet
of milo and a bar soap.
Janet Daklu
who won the women's two-kilometre rally received ˘50,000 cedis and a wall
clock. Evelyn Anku and Veronica Ayite
who came second and third took home a tin of milo, a
bar soap and a satchet of milo
and a bar soap respectively. In all, thirty-four athletes took part in the
race.
Solomon Adunai,
one of the organisers of the rally told the GNA Sports later that the rally
which formed part of activities marking the new year
aimed at promoting sports in the area.
In another
developments, Kadjebi Freetown Football Club
emerged the winners of a three-club gala football match at the
The run-ups were Dubonku Club with two points and Central Club no points who
took home 200,000 cedis and 50,000 respectively.
At Kwamikrom,
the Kwamikrom Boat Owners Football Club defeated Kwamikrom Drivers Club 5-3 while Tapa-Amanfrom
Young Stars beat Kwamikrom Shinning Stars by a lone
goal. Captain Prince Adu Poku
scored the only goal for his side in the first half of the game.
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