The Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) today engaged the Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Alhaji Mahmoud Bawumia at the Jubilee House on a wide range of issues .
Led by its President Kwabena Yeboah, the mother body of Sports journalists in Ghana, SWAG commiserated with the veep on the demise of his mother and consoled him for the loss.
Kwabena Yeboah who was accompanied by his vice Maurice Quansah,General Secretary Charles Osei Asibey and his deputy Thomas Boakye-Agyeman also discussed few issues with the Vice President especially the state of Ghana Sports among others .
Dr. Bawumia expressed his happiness at meeting the group, thanked SWAG for the visit and reiterated the need for more of such meetings, asking SWAG to continue the watchdog role it’s played over the years and commended them for the SWAG awards, which is the longest running awards event in Ghana .
Present at the meeting was the Secretary to the veep Mr. Augustine Blay and Special Assistant to the Vice President Tamimu Issah, himself a member of of Swag and a former deputy spokesperson of the Ghana Football Association .
The continent’s football governing body has issued a statement that the Black Stars next game in the World Cup qualifiers against the Walias Antelopes will not be played in Addis Ababa
Ghana’s penultimate game in the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Ethiopia will not be played in Addis Ababa as earlier scheduled.
This comes after Confederation of African Football (CAF) banned the Bahir Dar Stadium in Ethiopia as a result of stadium non-approval to host international matches since it lacks a lot of things to help ensure COVID-19 protocols.
Caf, in a letter sent to Ethiopia Football Federation, has ordered the country to submit a new venue for the game latest by October 20 so that Ghana can be duly notified.
This will also help the Black Stars to prepare their travel to the new venue for the game scheduled for November 13 as they are in dire need of three points.
Ghana defeated Ethiopia in the first leg at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium in August and will be hoping to complete a double over them to keep the chase on Group G leaders South Africa.
Should Ethiopia Football Federation fails to communicate a new venue to Caf as requested, the continent’s football governing body will name a new venue and it will likely be played at either Accra Sports Stadium or Cape Coast Sports Stadium as per regulations of the World Cup qualifiers.
Ghana have nine points and sit second in Group G, one point behind leaders South Africa who will also host Zimbabwe in the other game.
Ghana will host South Africa in the last game of the group on November 17 and the outcome will obviously determine who will qualify from the group.
The Nigerian superstar has now being crowned as the Best Player on the African continent following his exploits in Italy
He sold “pure water” along ojota road in lagos state.
He lived in one of lagos biggest refuse dumps.
He dropped out of school to pursue his dream.
He was rejected by many clubs but today he has a whole stadium in Italy chanting his name.
“THE GUY IN GREEN”
He was barely 13 when he lost his mum and as if that wasn’t enough, 3months after losing his mum,his father lost his job.
He was the last amongst 7 kids but that didn’t stop him from hustling on the streets of Lagos at a young age alongside his older siblings.
A BORN HUSTLER!
His eldest brother sold newspapers, sisters sold oranges on the street while he hawked bottled water along ojota road in Lagos state.
He lived in one of Lagos state’s biggest refuse dump sites in Olusosun but that didn’t stop the young boy from dreaming, in fact he dreamt big!
His father wanted him to become a doctor but he dropped out of school to pursue his own dream of becoming a footballer but his father still supported him.
He kept playing street football and was only a youth player of the then Ultimate Strikers Academy,but he never played.
In 2014 at age 16 he went for the Nigeria Under-17 team screening held in Abuja by coach Amuneke.
More than 2million players were in the Abuja stadium and they were both given 15mins to impress.
He scored 2goals in 15minutes but the tired Amuneke sent him away with the others.
But as they left, he heard Nigeria team doctor telling the coach Amuneke to try out “The guy on green”
Coach Amuneke turned and called out “The guy on green!!!”, he turned because he wore green, ran back and the coach said, “You no dey chop?,why you lean like this, sit down!”
And that was how he got selected into the Under-17 WC team, he later went on to win the following;
• 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup • 2015 FIFA U-17 Golden Boot (Highest Goal Scorer) • 2015 FIFA Silver shoe award (Second Best Player)
Then the European big clubs came calling.
On January 5th 2017 he signed for the German club, Wolfsburg and was supposed to start living the life right? But it got tougher for him.
The coach that brought him to Germany got sacked and he got injured on his right knee and had to be operated 3 different times.
He was about to travel back to Germany, he had his bags packed when he woke and found himself in a hospital bed in Lagos.
Wolfsburg thought he didn’t want to come back for pre-season and asked for doctors report and pictures which he did.
He was diagnosed of malaria and typhoid.
He got better, traveled back to Wolfsburg and for 3wks he was quarantined away from the team.
Wolfsburg decided to loan him and he agreed because he wanted to play football, he even decided to play for the lower division of the German league but a top Belgian side came for him.
ZULTE WAREGEM in Belgium wanted him on loan, so he went to train with them, they tested him and found out he still had malaria but the coach told him to keep training.
For three weeks, he trained, scored goals in training and the coach promised him, the club would sign him.
Finally an escape route but on the eve to the day he would be signed, his agent was called and told he wasn’t needed again.
He went to Wolfsburg who relegated him to the Under-19 team to train so he could be fit to be loaned out later.
Whilst training, another club called.
It was the Belgian Champions CLUB BRUGGE, He was happy, went to Belgium where he passed his medicals and the team doctor told him it’s left for the club president to make the move official.
The deal was never made official as Club President turned down the deal. He was broken!!
He went back to Germany where he would wake up by 4am to cry, he told his agent not to worry about any transfer again so as to allow him stay and fight for his place in Germany.
On a Wednesday morning, 5days to the closure of the European transfer market, he got another call.
It was a call from another Belgian Club, this time CHARLEROI FC, a voice introduced himself as the Club president and told him “Can you come to Charleroi, I want to sign you”
He left for Belgian on road with his agent and they spent 7hours, when he got to Belgian…HE GOT SIGNED.
For a player that hasn’t scored a goal in 2yrs of turning pro. He scored 20goals in 36 app for the club and later left to join French Club Lille.
He went to France and scored 18goals making him a fan favorite among the Lille faithful but that was just the start of his story.
Italian giants, Napoli FC broke their transfer record to make him the most expensive African player when they paid Lille $96M (N39.7Billion).
And he is currently led Napoli to the top of the Italian Serie A scoring 8goals in 9 games as Napoli remains unbeaten.
HE IS ON FIRE!!!
John Ogu called him a beast with a lion’s heart.
Odion Ighalo called him the crown Prince to the throne of Nigerian attackers.
He is one the hottest top prospects in world football at the moment.
He is VICTOR JAMES OSIMHEN!!!
During 2022/23 season, Osimhen helped Napoli to win their first Serie A trophy in several decades and also clinched the league’s top scorer award.
Although, Nigeria failed to make it to 2022 FIFA World Cup staged in Qatar after losing to Ghana on away goal rule, the 23-year-old’s exploits did not go unnoticed. As a result, Osimhen was crowned as the Best African Player.
As a young boy who came from the streets of Olusosun, who had to hawk in traffic almost every day of the week while growing in-order to survive the numerous challenges my family and I were facing, becoming a Treasure in Africa and World Football was a wild dream. Words can’t… pic.twitter.com/D0zbdLI4wL
The continent’s football governing body has reportedly ordered that the Red Castle should play the return fixture of the Champions League against the Phobians without their teeming supporters
Confederation of African Football has ordered Wydad Athletic Club to host Ghanaian giants Hearts of Oak in the Champions League behind closed doors on Sunday, according to reports in the local media.
The Phobians recorded a 1-0 narrow victory last weekend with 2,000 spectators cheering them on at the Accra Sports Stadium.
However, reports indicate that the new directives from Caf has ordered that only journalists, medics, security personnel and few people designated for various roles should be allowed inside the Mohammed V Sports Stadium in Casablanca due to COVID-19 scare.
The aforementioned people should even provide valid COVID-19 test results indicating that they are negative of the deadly disease before they can be allowed to watch the game live from the facility.
However, Wydad AC top hierarchy have reportedly rejected the suggestion by CAF and have written to the football governing body to rescind that decision since they believe COVID-19 cases are not on the rise in the country.
Wydad AC need two unanswered goals in the return fixture to claim their qualification spot in the group stage while Hearts must prevent them from scoring or eye for a scoring draw in the game to book their place in the group stage for the first time since 2006.
AshesGyamera’s sources have revealed that Hearts will leave Ghana to Morocco on Thursday to continue with their fine tuning in Casablanca.
The game has been scheduled for Sunday and kick off time is 19h00 GMT (7PM local time)
The Porcupine Warriors failed once again to record a win after two games following their trip to the Gulf region
Asante Kotoko drew 1-1 with Liwa FC in a pre-season friendly at Shababal Ahli Stadium on Sunday and AshesGyamera is here to provide you with the highlights of the game.
Following a defeat to Al Hilal United last week, Kotoko coach Prosper Ogum Narteh ringed changes in his squad for the clash against Liwa.
Goalkeeper Razak Abalora maintained his place in post once again ahead of Kwame Baah while Maxwell Agyemang came in for Moro Ibrahim at left back. However, Christopher Nettey kept his place as Agyemang Maxwell partnered Ismail Abdul Ganiyu in central defence.
Midfielder Patrick Asmah wa deployed in a makeshift central midfield role to partner Mudasiru Salifu and Richmond Lamptey while Dickson Afoakwa and Joseph Amoako took charge of the flanks.
New signing Stephen Amankonah Amankonah led the attack and Brazilian Fabio Gama was put behind him.
After an end-to-end action in the opening half hour mark, Kotoko began to exert pressure on Liwa in search of the opening goal.
Amankonah finally broke the deadlock with a fine finish by the 41st minute.
Afoakwa was offered an opportunity to double Kotoko’s lead minutes later but he fluffed the chance.
After the break, Kotoko missed several chances and their profligacy later came to hunt them.
Liwa snatched the equaliser against the run of the play following a defensive error.
Although, Kotoko pressed their opponents to find an opening and score the winner, Liwa’s defensive setup was very resolute and they held on to pick a priceless draw against the African giants.
Kotoko are expected to play at least one more game before they depart Dubai next weekend to continue preparations for the 2021/22 Ghana Premier League season.
The young goalkeeper was handed his debut call up and surprisingly started against the Warriors in the World Cup qualifiers
Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac has revealed that new goalkeeper Joe Wollacott earned his maiden call up to the Black Stars following a recommendation made by former international Richard Kingson.
According to Milovan, Kingson, who doubles as the goalkeeping coach scouted the youngster and upon watching several videos of him, he became convinced.
“It was the work of Richard Kingston because he did the scouting work and he suggested this goal keeper to me,” Milovan revealed.
“I watched many videos of him and the decision was made to include him in the squad and when he came, he proved himself and got the chance which he used very well,” he added.
Milovan also touched on new sensation Abdul Fatawu Issahaku and why he was handed his debut game in the 3-1 victory over Zimbabwe in the World Cup qualifiers.
“He recommended himself with his performance for U-20 team and when he came to the camp, he proved himself at the training sessions and the training match so he showed me he has to get the chance and I am quite satisfied with the way he is developing and he is a beautiful talent and a player with a great future in professional football,” he said.
“I am a very democratic person. I am open to hearing people’s opinion because it is important but in the end, I am the one who is making the decision because it is my job at stake and I am responsible after all.
“First of all, I am professional and I expect professional approach from everybody. Nobody can mean better to the players than I can mean good for them so I expect professional approach towards me and I am trying to be professional towards everyone around.
“This is what I had in Ghana but unfortunately in other places, this wasn’t the case so that’s why some jobs ended earlier than it is supposed to be because I didn’t have that kind of approach.
“That is why coming here, I knew what to expect and this is the environment that I really enjoy and the people I work with so I am quite positive in terms of making good things. I am not an autocratic person, I am open to opinions. I think people who cannot work with me cannot work with many other people.
“I believe I am good for team work but in the end, I make the tough decisions and suffer the consequences of things go wrong,” he concluded.
The Phobians boss believes it highly possible to complete a double over the North African giants at their backyard in the return leg next week
Hearts of Oak coach Samuel Boadu has insisted that his side can do the unthinkable by defeating Wydad Athletic Club in the return leg of the Caf Champions League in Morocco.
The Phobians laboured to snatch a slim 1-0 victory on Sunday over WAC thanks to Isaac Mensah’s goal in the first half of the game.
Although, concerns have been raised about Hearts’ poor conversion rate and game management, Boadu believes Wydad are beatable even at their favorite home grounds.
“It is going to be game management when we go to Morocco. If we get good officiating Hearts of Oak can score over there”, he said at the post-match conference.
“Everybody saw the performance of the referee and if we get good officiating in Morocco, Hearts of Oak will win.”
“Hearts of Oak has good players to compete with WAC of Morocco. We are ok with the one goal we scored. We shouldn’t give up and we are going to qualify over there”, he added.
Hearts eliminated Guinean side CI Kamsar in the preliminary round and would be hoping to make it to the group stage for the first time since 2006.
The Phobians contingent are expected to leave Ghana for Morocco on Thursday for the return fixture.
The midfielder admits they were not happy with the scoreline in the first leg against the Red Castle but believes they can secure qualification in the reverse fixture
Hearts of Oak midfielder Ibrahim Salifu has admitted that they would’ve wished to record a convincing results over Wydad Athletic Club in the first leg of the Caf Champions League last Sunday.
The Phobians won 1-0 thanks to Isaac Mensah’s debut goal in the competition after he connected a cross from Salifu.
Although, the return fixture could go either way as the Phobians need to avoid conceding a goal, Salifu is optimistic that they will qualify.
The Black Queens coach has released a list of players to be used for the upcoming crucial encounter against the regional rivals
Ghana’s female national team coach Mercy Tagoe Quarcoe has announced the list of players to arrive at the Black Queens camp as they prepare to host Nigeria in the first leg of the African Women Cup of Nations qualifiers at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Tagoe’s squad is dominated mainly by players who ply their trade in the country as well as those who participated in the hosted in Nigeria last month.
Defender Blessing Agomadzi returns to the team after missing the squad in recent call ups while Priscilla Adubea and deputy captain Portia Boakye as well Grace Asantewaa are the only foreign-based players named in the team.
Meanwhile, Wasila Diwura-Soala, who was part of the team that played in the Ayisha Buhari Tournament has been dropped.
