CAF AND NATIONAL TEAM ACTIVITY

The past one week has been a very busy one for our national teams. The Black Stars played the Super Eagles of Nigeria in an international friendly.

The Black Meteors played Burkina Faso in an Olympic Games qualifier.

The Black Starlets have intensified the preparation for the African Under-17 Championship in Togo.

The Black Queens have also been busy preparing for the Olympic Qualifier against Angola.

The Black Stars

On Tuesday 6th February 2007 the Black Stars of Ghana exorcized the ghosts and evil spirits that had prevented Ghana from beating Nigeria since 1992.

The purification was executed in grand style by the team when they beat Nigeria 4-1 before a capacity crowd in London.

The defeat was significant in several respects. Ghana had long suffered under the dominance of Nigeria for 15 years.

Since 1992 when Ghana beat Nigeria 2-1 at the semi finals of the African Cup of Nations in Senegal, we have remained pupils under the aegis of the Nigerians. Nigeria defeated Ghana 3-0 in Port Harcourt in 2001 in a World Cup qualifying match.

Nigeria beat Ghana 1-0 in 2002 and 2006 at the Final Competition of the African Cup of Nations in Mali and Egypt respectively.

Defeat of Nigeria reversed the dwindling fortunes of Ghana at the hands of Nigeria and re-confirmed the age-long rivalry and dominance of Ghana over Nigeria. Ghanaians cherish a victory over Nigeria in any match whether competitive or friendly.

The match provided an excellent platform for Ghana to test her might against that of Nigeria. Indeed the view had been held that since the 2006 World Cup Ghana had shown its class and could easily pass as the best African side for 2006.

That view was contrasted with the position that being the best ranked African team (9th in the world) Nigeria was arguably the best.

The London match therefore provided the opportunity for the two teams to be assessed. Ghana certainly proved to be the better side.

The Ghanaians played as a team and demonstrated that the Black Stars was growing from strength to strength.

The consistency in the team is the upward trend of its performance.

The midfield of the Black Stars is as solid as a rock and compares favourably with the best in the world. With the signs shown so far, I believe that the sky is the limit for the team.

The Black Meteors

In Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso the sad tale of the defeat of the Black Meteors was told. We lost 2-0. Since I was not in Ouagadougou, I am not in the position to comment on the match until I read the report of the Management and Technical teams.

The Black Meteors team is quite solid. We need to quickly diagnose the causes of the defeat and prescribe the right remedial measures to forestall the recurrence of any unexpected results.

The Black Starlets

The Black Starlets have pitched camp in Egypt in preparation towards the African Under-17 Competition in Togo. Egypt was chosen because of good facilities and the availability of good opponents.

I think the opportunity for the team to train in Egypt has proven to be a useful one. We expect that the preparation given the team in Egypt will translate into good performances in Togo.

The Black Queens

The Black Queens will be traveling to Angola for the first leg of the Olympic Qualifier. The team has since the African Women’s championship been preparing on the quiet in Prampram.

University of Hull

In the coming week, a team of professionals will be visiting Ghana from the University of Hull to train coaches and sports medical personnel as part of our collaboration with the University.

The Sports Science Department of the University will also host one of our National teams in its preparation towards an international competition.

The 50th Anniversary of CAF

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is 50 years. The entire African Football family has converged in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum to celebrate the historic event.

The week long activities were held in Sudan because the 3 pioneering countries – Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia – founded CAF there.

The General Assembly considered addresses from the Presidents of CAF, FIFA, and the Republic of Sudan.

Other issues considered were the activity report, financial statement, and a forum for African football.

One significant event at the Meeting was the decision of the zonal unions in CAF to pass resolutions declaring their support for the re-election of President Issa Hayatou in 2009.

President Hayatou delivered an emotional address to welcome the resolutions saying he had to restrain himself from shedding tears for the love shown to him by the Unions.

The Unions are the West African Football Union, East African Football Union, Southern African Union, North Africa Union and the Central African Union.

The General Assembly honoured some distinguished personalities who have for the past 50 years contributed one way or the other towards the development of African football.

They included former football legends such as Laurent Pokou of Cote d’ Ivoire, Kalala of Congo DR, Mohammed Khateb of Egypt, Kalusha Bwalya of Zambia and others. Abedi Pele and Roger Milla could not attend the Congress to receive their honours.

Other significant awards were presented to 10 journalists who have contributed towards the development of African football.

They included Emmanuel Maradas of Chad and our own good old Joe Aggrey, former Deputy Minister of Sports and Former Editor of Graphic Sports.

The golden jubilee of CAF was also marked by events such as the inspection of the sporting facilities of Sudan. We inspected the offices of the Sudanese Football Association and artificial playing fields constructed with the support of FIFA and a Saudi philanthropist.

There will also be an anniversary match between El Merrick of Sudan and ASEC of Abidjan.

The final leg of the programme is the 4-day refresher course for all General Secretaries of African Federations.

The CAF 50th anniversary celebration was graced by His Excellency Mr. Sepp Blatter, the General Secretary Urs Linsi, Special Delegate Jerome Champagne and many others from Europe and Asia.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee will be holding its first Meeting of 2007 next week to consider Accounts for 2005 and half year for 2006, proposals for amendment of the Regulations and/or Statues of the Association, Among others.

Cheers!!

Kwesi Nyantakyi

February 12, 2007