Category: Sport

 

Former Ghana Football Association [GFA] President, Kwesi Nyantakyi has revealed that he had to kneel and beg for Sulley Muntari’s inclusion in Black Stars squad for the 2010 World Cup.

Rajevac was not on good terms with Muntari during his first spell due to alleged indiscipline.

The Serbian coach left out the midfielder from Ghana’s squad for the 2010 AFCON, with the team going on to reach the final.

The Serbian gaffer eventually added Muntari to his squad for the World Cup, but the former Inter Milan star lost his place in the first team to Andre Ayew.

In an interview with Joy Sports, Nyantakyi said he twice begged for Muntari to be taken to the World Cup.

According to him, he twice pleaded with then-coach Milovan Rajevac not to exclude the midfielder from his squad for the tournament in South Africa.

“Yes, in 2010 I did it. I did it twice, not even once,” the former GFA President said in the interview.

“I had to kneel for Sulley Muntari to be named in Black Stars for the World Cup,” he added.

Muntari has been out of the Black Stars after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The former AC Milan and Inter Milan midfielder has made 84 appearances and has scored 20 goals.

 

Source: Modern Ghana

Hearts of Oak have returned to Ghana after the trip to Mali to honour the first leg encounter of the tie against AS Real Bamako in the CAF Confederation Cup.

The Ghana Premier League club on Saturday played as a guest to the Malian opponent hoping to secure a positive result before the second leg game at home.

Unfortunately, the club failed to impress away from home and suffered a disappointing 3-0 defeat to AS Real Bamako.

Today, the Phobians have traveled back to Ghana and now turn their attention to the second leg encounter of the tie.

“Team Hearts has safely arrived at the Kotoka International Airport

“Training continues tomorrow afternoon ahead of the return leg of the CAF Confederations Cup match against Real Bamako of Mali.

“We will continue to update our followers,” a Hearts of Oak statement to update fans said on Sunday.

The second leg game between Hearts of Oak and AS Real Bamako will be played on Sunday, October 16, 2022.

 

Source: Modern Ghana

Former Real Madrid and Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas has deleted a tweet that said he was gay – saying his account was hacked.

Casillas tweeted in Spanish: “I hope you respect me: I’m gay,” before his former Spain team-mate Carlos Puyol replied: “It’s time to tell our story.”

The tweet was live for more than an hour before being deleted.

Casillas later tweeted: “Hacked account. Luckily everything in order. Apologies to all my followers.”

The tweet added: “Of course, more apologies to the LGBT community.”

Casillas split from his wife Sara Carbonero last March. They have two children.

Before Casillas’ initial tweet was deleted, Adelaide United player Josh Cavallo, who came out last October, criticised Casillas and Puyol for apparently joking about coming out.

“Joking and making fun out of coming out in football is disappointing,” Cavallo tweeted.

“It’s a difficult journey that any LGBTQ+ people have to go through. To see my role models and legends of the game make fun out of coming out and my community is beyond disrespectful.”

Few high-profile current or former male players have ever come out as openly gay in the sport.

Earlier this year, teenager Jake Daniels became the first professional in the UK men’s game for more than 30 years to come out while still playing.

The 17-year-old Blackpool player said the decision would allow him to be “free and confident”.

Casillas, who retired in 2020, joined Real Madrid aged nine and made 725 appearances for the club during a 16-year career at the Bernabeu, winning three Champions League titles and five La Liga crowns.

He moved to Porto in 2015, winning two Primeira Liga titles and one Portuguese Cup, but his playing career ended after he suffered a heart attack during training in April 2019. He later joined the club’s coaching staff.

As well as winning the 2010 World Cup, he helped Spain to two successive European Championships in 2008 and 2012, and won 167 caps between 2000 and 2016.

 

Source: Modern Ghana

More than 1,300 fans with football banning orders in England and Wales are being told to hand in their passports to stop them going to the World Cup.

Under new measures coming into force on 14 October, the Home Office says it will also be stopping “any supporter who has previously caused trouble and is deemed likely to do so again” from travelling to the tournament in Qatar.

“We will not let the behaviour of a minority of lawbreakers tarnish what will be an exciting tournament,” Home Secretary Suella Braverman said.

The World Cup will take place from 20 November to 18 December.

The 1,308 people subject to Football Banning Orders “will be forced to hand their UK passports over to police” the Home Office said.

Those not complying and attempting to travel to Qatar could face six months in prison and an unlimited fine, it warned.

Anyone affected who wants to travel abroad during the World Cup will need to get permission and be subject to thorough checks.

In addition, a targeted operation at ports will aim to identify previous offenders looking to travel to Qatar.

Home Office figures recently revealed arrests and reported incidents of disorder at football matches in England and Wales last season were at their highest level for eight years.

“Violence, abuse and disorder is not tolerated here, and this criminal behaviour will not be tolerated at the World Cup which is why we are taking this firm approach,” Braverman added.

Football banning orders are court orders which stop people attending football matches and are usually applied when someone has been convicted of a football-related offence.

 

Source: Modern Ghana

Black Meteors head coach, Ibrahim Tanko has assured that his side will qualify ahead of Mozambique in the U-23 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.

Ghana will take on Mozambique in the second round of the qualifiers for the U-23 AFCON later this month.

The winner will play in the final qualifying round for the 2023 AFCON finals in Morocco.

Ahead of the game, Tanko says they will qualify ahead of Mozambique.

“We are playing Mozambique from the 21-23 October away and we hope by then, we have a solid team to present.

“We know it is not going to be easy but we hope that we are going to qualify because we are working hard.

“There is no injury but we are waiting for Danlad Ibrahim and other players to join and so far, everyone is training hard,” he told the GFA website.

As part of preparations for the game, the Black Meteors defeated Ghana Premier League side Dreams FC by 2:0 in a friendly at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Goals from Ishmael Dede and Hagan Frimpong gave Black Meteors the victory.

 

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana

David Ocloo has announced Hearts of Oak’s starting XI for their CAF Confederation Cup game against ASR Bamako this afternoon.

The Ghana Premier League powerhouse were exempted from the round of qualifiers but will face the Malian giants in the first leg of the second round of the preliminary games.

Ocloo has made few changes in the starting lineup as Fatawu Mohammed, Daniel Kordie, and Eric Ofori Antwi returns to the team with Daniel Afriyie Barnieh.

The game has been scheduled to kick off at 16:00GMT.

Squad below:

• Eric Ofori Antwi (GK)
• Dennis Korsah
• Fatawu Mohammed (C)
• Konadu Yiadom
• Mohammed Alhassan
• Caleb Amankwah
• Daniel Kordie
• Gladson Awako
• Seidu Suraj
• Daniel Afriyie Barnieh
• Junior Kaaba

 

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana

Sofokrom(W/R), October 07, GNA – A Four-Day National Sports Competition among Special School Children to unearth talents and showcase children with special needs, has opened at the Sekondi College at Sofokrom in the Western Region.

Athletes from all the ten traditional Regions with Special Schools, except the Upper West, were participating in football, athletics and table tennis competition.

The event, which was being hosted by the Twin-City Special School at Sofokrom, is being sponsored by Special Olympics Ghana and UNICEF.

Speaking to the GNA Sports National Director in charge of Special Olympics Ghana, Mr. Denniswise Quainoo said the national competition would select children with exceptional talents and skills who emerged winners of the competition, to represent Ghana in international sports competition.

He said since 2013 when the global event begun, athletes from special schools won several international medals including the United States 2016 medal, the 2019 medal in Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the 2020 African games in Egypt.

The selection of a national team after the on-going competition, would go through frantic preparation to grab the medal in Germany 2023.

Head of Education for Learners with Intellectual Disabilities at the Ghana Education Service (GES), Madam Belinder Bukari told the GNA Sports that the service cherished inclusive education and would use sporting activities, culture, music, art and dance to unearth talents of special learners who cannot climb.

She said the unit would support special school learners to follow the vocational and academic pathway depending on their cognitive skills in order to integrate them into mainstream society.

Madam Bukari said GES envisaged that the special children attained independence and would not depend on their families for survival and not becoming a burden on society.

She revealed that many of the athletes were internationally recognized who had participated in world summer and winter games and have excelled.

She said GES was doing everything possible to ensure that those who could cope in the mainstream educational setting and developed their critical thinking to write exit examinations.

Madam Bukari said GES would not allow any child to beg for alms and appealed to parents with children with disability to go to the hospital to seek for assistance.

The Western Regional Head Coach for Special Olympics Ghana, Mr. Wisdom Djokoto stressed the need to use the field of sports to showcase the special innate  talents of children with low level intellectual faculties.

 

 

Source: Ghana News Agency

A former Vice President of the Ghana Football Association [GFA], Fred Pappoe believes three persons are enough to perform the duties of the Black Stars Management Committee job.

 

The Ghana FA’s Executive Council named Vice President Mark Addo as Chairman of the Black Stars Management Committee, along with six others – Kwasi Agyemang – Vice Chairman, Samuel Osei Kuffuor, Kwame Ofosu Bamfo, Colonel Kwadwo Damoah (Rtd.), Stephen Appiah and Alhaji Karim Grusah.

 

The decision was criticized by several Ghana ian football fans due to the size of the committee.

 

However, the seven-member team having led the Black Stars to seure a qualification for the Mundial will lead Ghana at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar which gets underway in six weeks but Pappoe is not in support of the number.

 

“I do not think any number beyond three will be necessary,” he told JoySports.

 

“Nobody has a sole repository of knowledge and experience. Of course, we need all the various skills and divergent opinions but I will say, three, nothing more than three and then they work in close liaison with the FA secretariat.”

 

However, Pappoe, who was part of the Black Stars Management Committee team for the nation’s maiden appearance at the Mundial in 2006, has admitted the difficulty in limiting the number to three.

 

“There is a little bit of politics in football so sometimes, space must be created for loyalists and supporters – that is why it will be difficult to have a three-member management committee so you see seven members or five members,” he said.

 

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana