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| Big Games Ahead Of Black Stars |
1/6/2007 |
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(1/5/2007)
Claude Le Roy - Stars Coach
It has now been confirmed that Ghana’s Black Stars will play Austria away on March 24 as part of their preparation for CAN 2008.
The match will be the Stars’ second warm-up exercise for the new year after squaring off with the Super Eagles of Nigeria in London on February 7.
Confirming this to the Graphic Sports yesterday, the spokesman of the FA, Mr Randy Abbey, said both matches will be honoured on FIFA free days.
He also talked about the likelihood of another clash between the Stars and the Teranga Lions of Senegal or the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire in France on March 28.
According to him, the FA is currently engaged in talks with its agents on the possibility of playing either side on the new date.
He pointed out that both Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire had earlier proposed to play Ghana on February 7, just like Nigeria.
He explained that if either side was settled on, the Stars will fly straight from Austria to France to honour the match on the said date.
Mr Abbey hinted that proposals from Switzerland and other countries which have also offered to play the Stars this year were being considered.
Austria are currently 65th in the FIFA rankings, while Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal occupy the 18th and 41st positions respectively.
The February 7 cracker will be a fine opportunity for Ghana who dropped to the 28th position in the December rankings to avenge a painful 1-0 defeat suffered at the hands of the ninth-placed Nigeria at the 2006 Africa Nations Cup in Egypt.
It will also be the first clash between the two rivals after Ghana’s excellent performance at the Germany 2006 World Cup.
As hosts of CAN 2008, Ghana has the privilege of skipping the qualifiers, hence the need to keep the Stars busy ahead of the tournament which is almost a year away.
Stars coach, Claude Le Roy, who took sometime off to spend the Christmas holidays with his family in his native France is expected back at post soon.
Story by Samuel Ebo Kwaitoo
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