Afranie is one of the four coaches
short-listed by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for the top job alongside fellow
Ghanaian Abdul Razak as well as Manuel Goncalves
Gomes of
The GFA would conduct the final
interview on February 1, to choose the man who is likely to be tasked to
qualify the nation for her first World Cup and the African Cup of Nations.
Afranie who was speaking on a local FM
station on Thursday said among the four nominated, he is the only one who has
made appearance at the World Cup, though at the junior level.
The caretaker coach guided the
national under-20 team, the Black Satellites, to win silver at
Prior to that, Afranie was a silver medallist with the national women
soccer team, the Black Queens at the maiden African Women Nations Cup in
Nigeria, which also qualified the team for its first ever World Cup in the
United States of America.
Asked whether soccer at the
junior lever was not different from that at the senior level, Afranie said football at the junior level was more
difficult because that was where talents were unearthed and natured.
He said he was proud that most
of his under-20 players now form the nucleus of the present Black Stars. The
coach is credited for bringing to the limelight players who were hitherto
unknown such as John Paintsil and Sule
Muntari.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 January
2003 - The Nigerian Football Association (NBA) has invited Ghana and three
other sister West African states to join her to co-host the 2010 World Cup. The
others are
A statement faxed from the Ghana
Football Association to the GNA Sports said the Nigeria FA believed that in
this way the event would provide a unique opportunity to see football as a
weapon of physical development, social integration and economic advancement
instead of using the event to showcase levels of development as has been the
case of developed countries.
It said the NFA believed that the idea of a five
nation co-hosting, though unique, is not farfetched as European and South
American countries are already proposing similar things in other competitions.
The statement said the NFA has drawn up a programme to meet the national
football associations of all the five countries to discuss details of the
proposal.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 January
2003 - A fun game to mark the celebration of a decade of the Fourth Republic
and Two years of Positive Change which was put off last week, has been
rescheduled for the El-Wak Sports Stadium in Accra on
Saturday 1 February.
A spokesman for the Planning
Committee who announced this in Accra on Thursday said Ministers of State,
Parliamentarians, Civil Service Organisations, Market Women, Media, Fishermen,
NGO's and 22 other institutions are expected to participate in the one-day
games.
He named some of the games as
soccer, tug-of-war, threading the needle, sack race, eggs on spoon, musical
chairs and boxing. The main event for the day would be the soccer match between
the Ministers of State and Parliamentarians. The Parliamentarians beat the
ministers 3-1 in the first encounter some few weeks ago at the Accra Sports
Stadium.
GRi…/
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He told GNA Sports that he was
pleased with the competitive nature of the league, which is two weeks old. "I do not have any problems with the
level of football been exhibited by all teams so far, at least it is making
things easier for the association and lovers of good football'.
On hooliganism, Djarbeng,
said it was heart warming to notice that no indecent scene has been created so
far and prayed that fans would continue to comport themselves as the
competition ensues. The chairman tasked all to throw their weight behind the
game in order to have a successful season.
He failed to admit or deny that
the long lay off of the teams due to the protracted court tussel
between Tudu Mighty jets and the
Rather, he was of the view that
the teams that have prepared well during the period would surely have the upper
hand in the competition.
GRi…/
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Koforidua (Eastern Region)
VORADEP scored the only goal of
the match in the 78th minute through a long free kick taken by
substitute player Frederick Okoe far behind the
penalty box. The ball slipped through the hands of goalkeeper Abass Caesar who rushed out of the post to grab it but the
ball slowly bounced into the post.
By this victory, VORADEP has won
three of their matches and drawn one while Heart of Lions had won three matches
and lost one. Both teams put up a good performance, which could be compared to
any Premier League match and was watched by the largest crowd in recent times
at the Koforidua Sports Stadium.
Getting to the dying minutes of
the match, the Kpandu boys pushed more of their
players forward in an attempt to redeem the goal with their substitute player
Seth Yeboah chasing every ball.
The closest that they came to
pulling the equaliser was in the 85th minute when a long surprised
shot by defender Abraham Kudemo was saved by VORADEP
goalie, Abubakar Sadiq, to
the admiration of the spectators. There was celebration all over the stadium by
the VORADEP supporters when the referee's whistle went for the end of the match.
GRi…/
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