Alex Quartey to handle Nigeria-Brazil friendly
Mensah, Georgina win Tema Monthly Medal golf
Accra (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - Referee Joseph Lamptey Wellington of Ghana has been appointed to handle the preliminary round match of the 24th African Cup of Nations between Niger and Guinea in Niamey on Saturday, June seven.
An official release from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) secretariat also named two Ghanaian assistant referees for the encounter. They are Seidu Seini Alhassan and Samuel Quaye. CAN 2004 would be hosted by Tunisia.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 02 June 2003 - Kumasi Asante Kotoko managed to beat Mount Cameroun 3-2 to qualify to the quarter finals of the African Cup Winners Cup competition in their titanic second-leg match played at the Kumasi sports stadium on Sunday.
Kotoko drew 2-2 with their counterparts in the first leg match played in Cameroun two weeks ago. Kotoko took the lead in the 35th minute when strong midfielder Michael Asante's beautiful pass, which the ace-striker Nana Arhin Duah made no mistake in planting the ball into the net.
The visitors counteracted immediately after the goal and equalised a minute later through Ze Zanga Mcdonald when he finished up beautifully a shot from skipper Atem Valentine before goalkeeper Louis Quainoo and the defender could cover up.
Mount Cameroun who had earlier on adopted a delay tactics with their goalkeeper Etame Sappro Eugene being the worst offender and at the same time playing it hard. In the sixth minute, Kotoko's Stephen Oduro hit the side of the net with a beautiful inswinger from Arhin Duah's pass and had two successive corner kicks in the 13th and 14th minutes respectively but wasted them.
Simon Ebelle was shown the yellow card in the 17th minute for decent. Mount Cameroun nearly took the lead in the 20th minute but goalkeeper Quainoo came out strongly and collided with an attacker, Mcdonald in the 21st minute.
Macdonald who was stretched off the field just returned to the field entered without orders from Referee Edmond Parkinson from Sierra Leone, therefore flagged him with yellow card.
Kotoko had a corner kick in the 25th minute, which was taken by petit Stephen Oduro and Michael Osei's header almost entered the net but the goalkeeper scooped it from the line. Undaunted, the visitors against the run of play had a chance to score but Agbor Bessong's shot missed the post narrowly in the 27th minute. They again came into the picture in the 31st minute but skipper Valentine who played a good game failed to connect home a cross from Modake Edembe.
Kotoko could not put their set pieces together and missed many scoring chances with their attackers fumbling upfront until the end of the first half.
On resumption, Kotoko restored their lead in the 48th minute through Isaac Boakye who lobbed a ball over onrushing goalkeeper Sappro Eugene after missing a chance in the 46th minute. Mount Cameroun brought in Ache Eben for Zambo Gabriel in the 53rd minute. A minute later, Fotso Felix of Cameroun was shown the red card for insulting behaviour.
This brought up a hold-up for about almost 17 minutes following Fotso's refusal to leave the field. When tempers cooled down and referee called for the commencement of the game, Kotoko continued to press to increase the tally, which eluded them with Boakye, Oduro and Asante missing glaring chances.
Let off the hook, the visitors had a free kick near Kotoko's vital area and was taken by Ebelle Simon straight into the net after sailing through the defenders for the equaliser in the 86th minute.
Kotoko, determined to carry the day exhausted their substitution list with Dan Acquah, Shilla Alhassan and Frank Osei coming in for Stephen Oduro, Michael Osei and Arhin Duah. Kotoko shooting from all angles during the injury time and pinning their opponents, had a corner kick and a defender in an attempt save the situation handled the ball in the "18" and the resultant spot-kick by Isaac Boakye earned Kotoko the match winner.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - Accra Hearts of Oak have failed for the third consecutive time to reach the money zone of the African Champions League when they beat AS Aviacao of Angola 2-0 in the second leg of their 1/8 stage confrontation at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday.
The victory could not cancel the 3-0 defeat Hearts suffered in Angola a fortnight ago. Hearts scored the first goal on 45 minutes when skipper Joe Ansah powered a left footed volley that sailed through a cluster of legs and past Shumi Latuta in goal for Aviacao from about 25 yards.
Hearts had a good opportunity in the first minute to pull a goal back from the first encounter but Bernard Dong Bortey chickened out of a fifty-fifty race for the ball and allowed the Angolan goalkeeper, Shumi Latuta to make a save.
On six minutes, Masssawudu Mumuni lost another golden chance when Wisdom Abbey who had done a good run on the right flank set him up. Mumuni scooped the ball with his left foot narrowly off the mark when Latuta was nowhere near his line. The Ghanaian champions had their first corner kick in the eighth minute but it was to no avail as the tall Angolans cleared the ball out of danger.
Four minutes later, Wisdom Abbey shot straight at the Angolan keeper after Bortey had sent a useful ball from the right. Laryea Kingston threw the entire Angolan defence out of position when he sidestepped the ball, leaving Abbey with the chance.
The visitors had their first corner kick in the 19th minute but their delivery was very woeful and Hearts cleared easily from their half. The Hearts team appeared all nerves as they failed to string their passes together and allowed the Angolans, who to say the least, were very ordinary to cut their passes and clear hastily to make the encounter rather drab.
Laryea forced the second save from the Angolan keeper on 29 minutes and three minutes after that, Emmanuel Osei Kofour lost in combat in a one on one tussle with a defender when he had the goal on sight.
In the second half, Hearts missed another fine chance when Mumuni ghosted past two Angolan defenders but his final ball went straight to the goalkeeper. The scale tilted greatly in favour of the Ghanaian champions when Simato Ben Dinha got a red card for striking Laryea Kingston in the face but Hearts made heavy weather of the advantage as they missed chance after chance.
Awudu Adama took over from Mumuni and Edmund Copson replaced Wisdom Abbey but the Hearts attack failed to glitter until the 71st minute when Copson scored the second with a half volley after an excellent run by Kuffour down the left. It was all Hearts thereafter as they surged forward looking for the leveller but try as they did, they could not get the third, which would have thrown the game into a penalty shootout.
Even the introduction of Adjah Tetteh for injured Laryea Kingston could not change the fortune of the club. There was a mild drama at half time as a man believed to be the juju man of Hearts confronted an Angolan player who was sprinkling water in one of the goal posts. The man who had himself sprinkled some water across the field before kick off attempted retrieving the water container from the player who resisted toughly.
The intervention of some police officers and officials of Hearts prevented the confrontation from degenerating into any ugly incident.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - Alex Quartey Ghana's FIFA badge referee has been selected to be in the centre of the international friendly match between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and World Champions, Brazil at the Mainbowl of the New Abuja Stadium in the Nigerian capital.
Also to officiate in the match slated for Wednesday, June 11 are Justice Yeboah and Nicholas Djomua who would be on the lines in the historic friendly.
A letter from the Nigeria Football Association dated May 22 and signed by Mr Taiwo Ogunjobi, General Secretary to the Ghana Football Association requesting for the services of the three referees asked them to fly Ghana Airways to Lagos on Monday June 9.
Alex Quartey was the only Ghanaian referee who officiated at CAN 2002 in Mali. He has also won the Sports Writers Association of Ghana award for three consecutive times. His recent outbursts about the poor remuneration of referees by the GFA for league matches led to a rise in the stipends from 115,000 cedis to 350,000 cedis.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - The Head Coach of the National Olympics Team has invited the following players for camping at the Hospitality Centre, Tema, on Tuesday June three. They are to report at 12 noon prompt.
A statement signed by Alex Asante for the General Secretary of the of the Ghana Football Association named the players as Isaac Amoako (Goldfields) George Owu, Ahmed Issah. Isaac Boakye, Micheal Osei all of Kotoko.
Others are Emmanuel Pappoe, Emmanuel Frimpong, Asamoah Gyan all of Liberty, Dan Coleman, Don Bortey (Hearts) Ampimah Barusso, Laud Asare (Nania) Joe Tagoe (Olympics) Patrick Antwi (Minestars) and Alex Agyapong (Stay Cool)
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Tema (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - Ebenezer Tettey Mensah and Georgina Demendoza became the proud winners of the Tema Country Golf Club May Monthly Medal competition played at Tema on Saturday. Mensah returned 71 net while Georgina had 73 net to win the Men's and the Ladies event respectively in the competition, which was sponsored by Crocodile Matchet Ghana Limited.
S. Mustamin came second with 72 net; E.K. Henaku was third with 74 net while E. Gbesemete took the fourth position with 76 net. Grace Komlaldzei took the second prize in the Ladies competition with 74 net.
Myers Lamptey won the Bobby Prize with a net score of 90 net in the one-day 18-hole stable-ford competition which attracted 100 golfers. Nana Kwame Antwi-Boasiako, Board Chairman of Crocodile Matchet Ghana Limited said it is the policy of the company to assist the community in which it operates.
He said next year the company would make the event an Open competition so that golfers from other clubs could participate.
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