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KP Boateng welcomes ‘new boy’ Ribery to Fiorentina

The Black Stars midfielder has shown love to his new teammate ahead of the new season

Ghana midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has congratulated former Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery after completing his move to Fiorentina.

The 36-year-old arrived in Italy on Wednesday morning and penned a two-year deal with the Serie A side which would see him at the city of Florence until the summer of 2021.

“He is here 💜 welcome mon frere @acffiorentina #handmade @FranckRibery https://t.co/U0LqdNUV7i,” Boateng posted on Twitter.

KP Boateng, just like Ribbery, joined Fiorentina this month from Sassuolo following his successful loan move to Barcelona last season where he won La Liga.

Ribbery left Bayern Munich after twelve seasons in the Bundesliga following his move from Olympique Marseille in 2007. He played 425 games and scored 124 goals as well as made 184 assists for the Bavarians.

He is the second player to move from Bayern to Fiorentina after striker Mario Gomez.

Hearts of Oak 0-1 Black Meteors: Akesse’s goal separates men from boys

 

The Black Meteors took a huge step towards their ambition of qualifying to the continent’s showpiece

Ghana’s U-23 male football team defeated Hearts of Oak 1-0 in a friendly at the Accra Sports Stadium on Wednesday.

After a pulsating first-half where both teams lacked precision upfront, Nzema Kotoko striker Akesse Akesse powered Ibrahim Tanko’s side into the lead by the 63rd minute.

Although, Hearts pushed men forward in pursuit of an equaliser, Heart of Lions skipper Frank Akoto led the defence of the national side to remain resolute and recorded a clean sheet.

Black Meteors are preparing to face Algeria in the African U23 Championship double-legged qualifying match next month.

The team began their preparations on August 7 at M Planza Hotel in Accra and will be reduced to 18 players in the coming days.

Kingsley Sarfo still in Prison; midfielder yet to hold talks with Kotoko – former agent

 

The Black Stars midfielder was found guilty of having sex with underage girls in the Scandinavian country and he is yet to be set free

Amid the widespread information on Friday and early showers of Saturday following the unveiling of new players and kits by Asante Kotoko that former Malmo FF midfielder Kingsley ‘Strand’ Sarfo has signed for Asante Kotoko, Ashesgyamera.com can confirm that there is no iota of truth in the reports.

The 24-year-old was sentenced to 32 months in prison in June 2018 after he was found guilty of rape and having sex with underage girls in Sweden and has since been behind bars.

Although, reports suggest his jail term will be reduced due to good behaviour, the player Asante Kotoko have rather signed is Kingsley Owusu Effah who formerly had a stint with Wa All Stars.

“Kingsley Sarfo has not been released from prision and he has not signed with Asante Kotoko so disregard such stories,” Niklas Strand, former agent of the player told AshesGyamera.com.

“Kingsley was superhot everywhere before his problems so people would definitely try to link him with clubs but the fact is that he is in jail for a reason and would take some time for him to even recover when released before he can think of returning to the field,” he added.

The former Anokye Stars and Golden Boot Academy graduate became the second player from Ghana to be jailed in Sweden after midfielder Kwame ‘Conte’ Bonsu who later joined Kotoko before his move to Esperance de Tunis earlier this month.

Sarfo, who almost naturalized for Sweden, made his international debut for Ghana against Uganda in the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers. He was highly tipped to be part of Kwesi Appiah’s squad for the Africa Cup of Nations held in Egypt last month before the unfortunate incident.

Accreditation: How to get a pass for Kotoko vs Kano Pillars

Accreditation process for media houses wishing to cover the Caf Champions League return game against Kano Pillars at the Baba Yara Stadium on Sunday, August 25, 2019 has opened.

Media houses can thus apply for their passes from now till Tuesday, August 20, 2019. Applicants are to send their introductory letters with passport pictures to: [email protected].

Media houses (radio) in Ashanti Region will be entitled to two (2) slots each while those in other regions will be entitled to one (1) slot each. Online and newspapers nationwide would get one (1) slot each. Television stations will also be entitled to two (2) slots each.

An announcement on when the accreditation will be ready for pick up will be made in due course. The media will use the T. I. Ahmadiyya entry point at the stadium on the match day.

-Asantekotokosc.com

Okrah, Opoku, Agyemang Badu & Antwi dropped from Kotoko squad to face Kano Pillars

The Porcupine Warriors head to Nigeria for their opening of the Caf Champions League without several key players after pruning down their squad

Asante Kotoko coach Kjetil Zachariassen has officially announced an 18-man squad ahead of their Caf Champions League first leg against Kano Pillars on Sunday in Nigeria.

After an initial 23 players sent to camp last week, the team proceeded to Accra to fine tune on the Accra Academy artificial turf in order to be much ready for the task.

New captain Felix Annan will lead the players in their quest to conquer Africa alongside new striker George Abege and Richard Arthur.

However, conspicuously missing from the squad is former Ghana Premier League topscorer and goalking Augustine Okrah as well as Jordan Opoku and Martin Antwi.

The others also excluded include Ghana U-23 goalkeeper Kwame Baah and centre-back Emmanuel Agyeman Badu and the five players are expected to head back to Kumasi on Thursday.

The return leg has been scheduled for August 24 at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi.

Full squad:

Goalkeepers: Felix Annan, Osei Kwame

Defenders: Wahab Adams, Samuel Frimpong, Ampem Dacosta, Augustine Sefah, Evans Owusu, Patrick Yeboah, Stephen Ayiku Tetteh

Midfielders: Habib Mohammed, Alexis Didi, Justice Blay, Kelvin Andoh, Emmanuel Gyamfi, Godfred Asiamah

Strikers: Richard Arthur, George Abege, Naby Keita

Ofosu Manu eyes more playing time with PSG

 

The youngster has had chances few and far between for Les Parisiens’ senior team since but he is optimistic of a turnaround ahead of the new season

Ghanaian youngster Christian Ofosu Manu is hoping for regular playing time with French Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint Germain ahead of the 2019-20 season.

The 16-year-old midfielder joined Les Parisiens at their academy following his arrival from Ghana five years ago and has risen through their youth ranks to become a promising star.

However, he has continued to be on the fringe of Thomas Tuchel’s squad and hopes to have a change of fortunes this term especially in the top-flight.

“It’s been an interesting journey for me and I thank God for everyday. I’m hoping to have a better season with PSG especially the senior side,” Manu told AshesGyamera.com.

“I was born in Ghana but left for France when I was eleven. There are a lot of challenges at PSG but I’ve been able to make a name at the youth side and now wants to gatecrash into the first team. There are many top stars [including Neymar] around which I want to closely work with and learn a lot from them to improve my career,” he added.

Aside Manu, 22-year-old defender Isaac Hemans Arday is another Ghanaian in the PSG’s set up. They will open their title defence in the top-flight with a home game against Nimes on August 11.

Bonsu advises Asante Kotoko ahead of Caf Champions League showdown against Kano Pillars

 

The shot-stopper has given clues to the Porcupine Warriors ahead of their trip to Nigeria for the Champions League first leg

Enugu Rangers goalkeeper Nana Bonsu has given tips to Asante Kotoko ahead of their Caf Champions League first leg against Nigerian side Kano Pillars next month.

The Porcupine Warriors who are making a return to the competition after a two-year absence would travel to Nigeria before hosting Pillars in the return fixture

“Kano Pillars play very matured football especially at home. They are a formidable side in the Nigerian league so I will advice Kotoko to be well prepared in their quest of causing a surprise or defeating them,” Bonsu told Light FM.

“Their pitch is slippery and the weather in Kano is very hot. I think Kotoko should find an environment which is similar in order to adequately acclimatise and be prepared for the game.

“Moreover, they shouldn’t wear boots which are not appropriate for the game since the hosts’ turf is astro-turf and requires special type,” he added.

Bonsu previously played for Ghana Premier League side Ashanti Gold before seeking greener pastures in Nigeria.

Why Ghanaians need not to rely solely on numerology & coincidence to win 2019 Afcon

By: Evans Gyamera-Antwi (@AshesGyamera on Twitter)

There has been a sudden strange optimism among many Ghanaians that the country is destined to annex the Africa Cup of Nations amid the Black Stars’ poor showing in their opening two games at the tournament

After forging a huge reputation as one of the finest sides in Africa over the years, Ghana, without a doubt, is one of the favourites to win the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations but when this feeling is currently mainly backed with superstition and sheer coincidence instead of quality football displayed by players and tactical ingenuity of the coach, it becomes a thing of worry.

According to a section of Ghanaians, the Black Stars seem to completely have similar fate, luck and trend just like during 1982 edition held in Libya, where they won their fourth and last major trophy in a fashionable manner. To even some of them, the last trophy won was on an Arabian soil and since current hosts Egypt is also an Arabian country, everything is in order.

Again, the Black Stars’ first two games in this year’s tournament (2-2 vs Benin, 0-0 vs Cameroon) have produced similar results to that of 1982 when they shared the spoils 2-2 with Libya and also had a goalless draw against Cameroon but defeated Tunisia 1-0 in the final group game and went on to win the trophy.

Also, some have argued that since George Alhassan who hailed from the Northern part of Ghana scored the country’s first goal in 1982 and with Andre Ayew having the same root equalling it as he netted the country’s opening goal against Benin, the chart will definitely repeat itself.

But without even digging deeper, a lot of incidents that happened in 1982 and few years before had several similarities in 2015 but Ghana still lost that year’s Afcon and that means coach Kwesi Appiah and his players rather have to step up their performances because what they’ve produced so far is an eyesore.

Before Ghana lifted the 1982 Afcon, Asante Kotoko had won three consecutive Ghana Premier League titles (1980, 1981, 1982) just like they won in 2012, 2013 and 2014 but the Black Stars failed to win the 2015 Afcon after reaching the final under former coach Avram Grant.

Interestingly, Kotoko during that period of conquering Ghana, had a player called Opoku Nti who later returned to the club as General Manager in 2015 but Ghanaians did not have the Afcon trophy that year despite a lot of superstitious beliefs linking his return to the club.

Furthermore, in 1982, there was a player called Kwesi Appiah (who is the current coach) in the Black Stars squad and another Kwesi Appiah (currently active) from Crystal Palace emerged in 2015 but the country ended the tournament in pain as the latter even scored against Guinea to propel Ghana into the semi-finals.

Identically to the 1982 tournament, there was also a player called Abedi “Pele” Ayew in the setup just like we had Andre Ayew and Jordan Ayew who happen to be his sons in the 2015 squad presented by the Black Stars but Ivory Coast defeated us to emerge as champions.

Once again, Andre Ayew scored Ghana’s opening goal in 2015 as many people are comparing it to Geroge Alhassan of the 1982 squad, yet we lost the title so for Ayew to score the first goal in this year’s tournament should not be a yardstick to measure anything.

Nigeria won the Afcon in 1980 and Ghana won it in 1982. In 2013, Nigeria defied all odds to win the Afcon again under Stephen Keshi of blessed memories but Ghana could not win it two years later despite several incidents repeating.

The last time Ghana won in 1982, Brong Ahafo United were in the Ghana Premier League and they returned from relegation after a decade in the lower division in 2015 but nothing better happened to the Black Stars’ quest to end the trophyless run.

Now, with only two points in the bag at the tournament and elimination starring at the faces of the Black Stars, they cannot afford dropping even a point in the crucial fixture against the Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday but must manage to score full marks.

Ghana need a victory now than ever and all attention should be on team preparation, tactics, substitutions while the game kicks off and of course winning bonuses since we have a precedent not superstition. Kwesi Appiah is expected for once to have tactics that would rip his opponents into shreds, having failed against Benin and Cameroon.

The 59-year-old gaffer is the most fortunate indigenous coach for the senior national team in the 21st century and must prove at this crucial stage why he deserves the whopping $35,000 paid into his account every month. His tactics and player selection must be apt, game management superb and substitution at the right time or he will face the wrath of Ghanaians since he is still yet to convince many even in his second coming as a coach.

In the Black Stars’ last four games under his watch, he has failed to win any and it is interesting to even know that Appiah has picked only four wins out of his last 11 games in all competitions, pathetic.

With only 21 wins in 46 games — 45.6 per cent winning rate — since his return as the Black Stars boss, it brings about the feel of pessimism among a section of Ghanaians that the ‘national project’ of winning the Afcon after going trophyless in 37 years may not be achieved.

Appiah, personified as a lion (coach) with small penis (poor game plan) must compensate with a mighty roar (improved tactics with variations) to save the blushes of the four-time champions who have made it to the semi-finals of the last six tournaments and finishing as runners-up in two of those.

Commey defeats Beltran, awaits new opponent to defend IBF World title

Richard Commey started fast, Ray Beltran managed to hang in, and in the end, Commey’s power was too much for the weight-drained and aging Beltran.

Commey improved to 29-2 (26 KO) with an eighth round stoppage of Beltran (36-9-1, 22 KO), having already dropped Beltran twice in the opening round and again in the fifth.

Beltran, who missed weight on Friday, gamely scrapped and hung around in the fight, with Bad Left Hook having Commey up 67-63 on two separate cards going into the eighth round, meaning that Beltran had won — on our cards, at least — three of the first seven rounds, and that the knockdowns were making the significant difference.

But when Commey caught Beltran with a left hook early in the eighth, it was over. Beltran got up and was ready to continue, but referee Eddie Hernandez Sr called a halt to the fight, which was fair enough.

Commey, who holds the IBF lightweight title, will now await what’s next. It could be the winner of the July 19 fight between Teofimo Lopez and Masayoshi Nakatani, which is an IBF eliminator, or it could be the winner of the Vasiliy Lomachenko vs Luke Campbell fight on Aug. 31. If it’s the latter, Commey against the winner would be a full unification at 135 pounds.

As for the 38-year-old Beltran, he’d already moved up to 140 for his last fight, but took the chance at another world title shot for this one. It didn’t work out, on the scales or in the ring, but there’s still some fight left in the old warrior, too, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he still has a few good nights left in him at 140.

-BadLeftHook

Habiba Sinare-Ex-Wife of Ghanaian Footballer-Majeed Waris Talks About How Tribe, Illiteracy and Abuse Ended Her Marriage Just After 16 Months

Habiba Sinare, the young woman who married a Ghanaian footballer, Majeed Waris when she was 21 years—and claims to have ditched her medical school education to become a wife to the footballer has openly spoken to me in relation to what caused the collapse of her marriage, and more importantly why she made the trending absurd comments on air a few days ago.

A friend’s wife called me on Tuesday morning while driving to the office to ask for permission to give my number to Habiba and to also plead that I give her an audience.

Before this, I had made a post on social media, calling Habiba bitter and slamming her for her comments that she made a huge mistake by marrying Majeed Waris, who she called an illiterate, a man below her standard and a man from a ‘nobody family’.

Soon, a new number started calling me on Whatsapp and as I expected, it was Habiba—her rusty voice was pleasantly unique, and as the conversation drove on, I also noticed that her intermittent butchering of the Queen’s language was somewhat a distinguishing trait too. I wouldn’t blame the latter on her dropping out of school to become a young wife but rather, the haste with which she wants to deliver her words.

The opening of our conversation would come off as hostile to her, but that’s common when dealing with me. After the usual opening greetings, she said: “I hope you are not recording me or this conversation.”

To the above I replied: “If you do not trust me, why did you call me? I didn’t call you and neither did I asked you to call me so if you are not comfortable talking to me, you can just cut the call.”

She backed down, and responded: “I trust you…I was just asking.”

The opening remarks itself is fairly a prima facie evidence of a woman who jumps in at things or with comments without proper evaluation and when chased out, would coil down like the proverbial sick cat—to settle in.

Habiba had called with two folds of flawed intentions: to explain her unfortunate comments she made on radio which was fetching her an avalanche of unfettered social media criticisms and insults, and to make it even worse with new shocking comments, wrongly placed, as her net of restitution.

In-between these two layers were her glaring innocence and immaturity. Somehow, when I asked her why she would marry at the age of 21 and even ditch medical school for that, she managed to tell me and herself that she thinks she is too mature for her age even. Her conduct and the word maturity in a sentence is a classic example of an ‘oxymoron.’

But she was candid, a hallmark of most innocent and immature people. She told me that she is bitter, very bitter and she is constantly hurting because of what Majeed Waris and his family have done to her.

Asked about what they did, she stated, inter alia, that, the family largely caused her marriage to end as they would flood her matrimonial home in their numbers as much as 7, to spend as long as they want in ‘her house’. She accused Waris’ mother of constantly invading her matrimonial home with a bunch of family members and that her bedroom was not even spared.

She said the marriage was suffocating—and when she complained, her then husband told her that in their tribe, her in-laws could visit anytime. She summarized the relationship between Waris and his family with her in the middle as one that was symptomatic of a man who placed his family before her. She felt she was not her man’s priority.

Habiba may have a point but she is offensively childish, and I am going to cite a comment she made to support my claim of immaturity. I hope this comment will only be regarded as coming from a woman who has falsely convinced herself that she is intelligent and mature when she even lacks basic use of euphemism.

She said Majeed Waris was the one who kept chasing her at the beginning of their relationship and that she was not interested in him because of his tribe. With interest and tribe mentioned, I probed further. She explained, innocuously, that because he is a certain tribe (I have intentionally omitted the tribe) she was just not interested—despite she also coming from the northern part of Ghana.

However, after some time of pursuit from the footballer, she suddenly fell in love with him—I didn’t ask about how that became possible and whether gifts were showered on her. She only knew him for about 2 years as long distant pal, prior to their marriage, she mentioned.

She said in her radio comments that Waris was illiterate, below her standard and his family is a ‘nobody’ family. So I asked, “you knew the man was illiterate and below your standard—yet you proceeded to marry him. Did you do so because of his money?” She replied, “it was not about money for me because he never gave me any money even as a wife—it was about love.”

On how spiteful Majeed Waris’ mother and the other family allegedly treated her, I asked this: “when you people were dating him, did you not see any sign of the family being deeply involved in his life and always visiting? If you did and you were not in for that, why did you marry him as you seem to suggest the family’s cruel invasion is somewhat of his tribe or culture and wouldn’t have just started after the marriage?”

She said she did not experience that. Then again, it does not seem to me Waris and Habiba knew themselves very well, let alone to know their families inside out, before even getting married.

This ties into the fact that Habiba claims her entire family was against her marrying Majeed Waris but she snubbed them and proceeded to marry the footballer. Why was her family not in support of the marriage? I should have asked—right?

When questioned on why she would quit medical school just to get married to a footballer as she stated on radio—especially at the age of 21, she said, that comment was misinterpreted. Perhaps misrepresented by herself rather.

She stated that while Majeed Waris’ family insisted a woman does not need to go to school or be educated, she was unwavering, and said she would only get married to the footballer on the condition that she would be allowed to continue her medical school. However, things changed after she got married.

She was promised of a transfer of her education to France. But it became apparent after the marriage that the transfer wasn’t possible from a Ghana medical school to another in France. So, she opted to study a management course at a university in France, a little far from a football club her husband was to play football at. This also did not materialize as her husband didn’t continue with that club.

Habiba believes she has been unfairly treated and told me about how when she went to give birth to her child in America, she became depressed because her husband or nobody really came to visit her in the United States.

“You got married to a footballer, you shouldn’t have expected a lot of family time in a different country at the peak of his career or during the football session,” I said. She rebutted, “he could have taken time off if he really wanted—but he didn’t care and wasn’t there for me.”

A man pays for his wife to go and deliver in the United States of America and pays all the bills—that’s a privilege, some will even call it a blessing. But Habiba thinks she deserved more. And of course, she deserved to have her man around.

Pockets of online reports suggested in the past that Habiba’s pregnancy at the time was not for her husband—and she confirmed that her husband’s family accused her of adultery. But she said, “the child looked exactly like Waris when he was born” so all those accusations are untrue.

Habiba told me that Waris does not take care of his child and it has been months since he even saw the child. In fact, she blocked Waris, the father of her child on Whatsapp to prevent him from contacting her because of unending hurt, anytime he called.

She mentioned that on two occasions, she bought plane tickets with her own money for the child and herself to travel to France so that Waris would spend time with the child but the footballer refused and they did not even see him.

“Why would you buy tickets and fly to France without having a prior arrangement with Waris,” I asked. She said, “all I wanted was for him to be there for his child and for the child to grow up knowing his father but Waris has shown that he is not interested.”

The child is currently in school and Habiba said she foots the school fees and every bill alone—Waris does not give a fuck.

Habiba mentioned that Waris was somewhat abusive to her but she does not want to dwell on that or even call that domestic violence—and that she even has photo evidence which she does not want in the public domain.

Before ending my conversations with Habiba, I asked whether it would ever be possible for her to return to her marriage. And she said, only under one condition—and the condition is that Waris’ family wouldn’t be allowed to come to her matrimonial home and poke their noses into her marriage.

Of course, Habiba is disappointed, childish, bitter and deeply hurt—and her words reflect these. If not, why would she still have a condition under which she will return to marry an illiterate, useless, below her standard man from a ‘nobody’ family?

Habiba mentioned that she is currently working as an actress and a model–and I believe back to studying midwifery

By: Chris-Vincent Agyapong (Ghanacelebrities.com)