Ayew’s posters have been noticed on well-traveled streets in the Arab nation with less than three months till the start of the world event, which will be watched by millions.
Former captain of the Black Stars, Stephen Appiah, has denied rumors that he may leave retirement to represent Ghana at the World Cup.
The former Juventus player fueled speculation that he would play for the Black Stars again at the 2022 World Cup after posting a photo of himself working out recently at a stadium.
“This was an advert I shot in Thailand for Vitamilk oooo… Retired 10 years ago and I am not turning back… Just ignore any such news,†Appiah tweeted.
Stephen Appiah was part of Ghana’s team that qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and scored against the USA to help Ghana qualify to the round of 16 where they were eliminated by Brazil.
Inter have made a perfect start to their Serie A title bid, following up a last-gasp win at Lecce on the opening day by beating Spezia 3-0 last time out.
Lukaku, who fired the Nerazzurri to the Scudetto in 2020-21 with 24 league goals before heading to Chelsea, needed just 82 seconds to find the net when making his second Inter debut at Lecce.
While the Belgian then failed to score in Inter’s routine win at San Siro last weekend, Inzaghi was content with his display and believes it will not be long until he is scoring regularly once more.
“I think he did the first two games in the best way. It is not a matter that concerns only Romelu, but the whole team,” Inzaghi said at a pre-match press conference.
“We know that the condition is improving, we know we have players with important physicality and therefore we knew we needed some important games.
“We started quite well, we want to continue trying to improve all our players, including Lukaku.
“We also want to recover [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan, who will be very important, there will be 19 games in a row before a stop [for the World Cup].We will have to try to have all the players available. Tomorrow everyone travels except Henrikh.”
Lukaku scored 47 goals in 72 Serie A appearances in his first spell at Inter. Only Cristiano Ronaldo (60 goals in 66 appearances) and Ciro Immobile (56 in 72 games) outscored him in the competition during that time.
Lukaku’s return has raisedhopes that Inter could reclaim the Serie A title this season, but holding onto defender Milan Skriniar, who was strongly linked with Paris Saint-Germain, could prove just as important.
While Skriniar struggled with a muscle injury during pre-season, Inzaghi is pleased with the Slovakia international’s progress, adding:Â “I see him very well, concentrated, attentive.
“There was a problem at the beginning of the preparation, it came from an injury with the national team, something new for him because he had never skipped a training session in the last years.
“Instead, this time he slowed down for 40 or 45 days and his condition is growing.”
Inzaghi suffered his first league defeat as Inter boss when visiting former club Lazio in October last year, with Immobile on the scoresheet.
And while Inzaghi still enjoys a close bond with last season’s Serie A top goalscorer, he is not enthused by the prospect of facing the Italy international on Friday.
“A great affectionbinds me to him, he made very important seasons with me, he did it again last year with [Maurizio] Sarri,” he added.
“I know it’s a special game for everyone, we all care about it. I hope Ciro always scores, but maybe tomorrow he rests!”
Two of Africa’s representatives at the 2022 World Cup, Ghana and Tunisia, will play five-time world champions Brazil in friendlies next month.
The two countries have lined up the warm-up matches against the South Americans to help them prepare for the tournament to be played in Qatar in November.
The Black Stars will face the Brazilians on 23 September before the Carthage Eagles clash with the South Americans four days later.
The venue of the two matches has not been decided but the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) revealed on Friday that it will be in Europe.
“Brazil will face Ghana and Tunisia on the 23rd and 27th of September. Teams are also qualified for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,” a CBF statement read.
“The cities and times of the friendly matches will be announced in the future.”
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) also confirmed the agreement to play Brazil insisting it will give coach Otto Addo the chance to assess his players for travelling to Qatar.
“The match will give Coach Otto Addo the platform to continue the assessment of his players in the build up to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 finals,” the GFA said in a statement.
The match has been made possible thanks to the decision of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to postpone September’s TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers to allow the five African sides going to the World Cup to prepare well.
Ghana have been drawn in Group H at the World Cup to face Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea.
Tunisia was drawn in Group D alongside France, Denmark and Australia.
Annor Walker, the head coach of the Black Galaxies, thinks that camping in Austria before their CHAN qualifying match against Nigeria is advantageous for his squad.
To prepare for the final round qualifiers, the team has traveled to the European nation for a week of training.
The Black Galaxies will play the World Cup host nation of Qatar on Tuesday, August 23, 2022, while the squad is in Austria. This game will serve as a good practice for the first leg against Nigeria in Cape Coast.
“We are happy in Austria, the boys are calm and the environment is very good for us to camp ahead of such an important match,” coach Annor Walker told ghanafa.org.
The gaffer added, “We will play the main team of Qatar on Tuesday and we strongly believe that it will be a good test for the team. My players will learn a lot from that test match and it will put us in a good position for the task ahead.”
The Black Galaxies will return to Ghana on Thursday to wrap up preparations for the first leg of the CHAN qualifier against Nigeria.
That match will be staged at the Cape Coast Stadium.
Despite being known as the “Black Stars,” Ghana’s senior national team has only ever won a match wearing a black jersey.
It appears that the first time the Black Stars donned the black jersey was the last time the national team ever wore one.
Fans believed that the Black Stars’ wearing a black jersey gave them ill luck, and many found various reasons why Ghana should never wear a dark jersey.
AFCON 2006: GHANA vs ZIMBABWE: The real story
The Black Stars lost their first game to Nigeria by 1-0. Taye Taiwo struck a powerful shot to score the only goal in the match for the Super Eagles. Ghana managed to earn a 1-0 win over Senegal in their second game thanks to a goal by Matthew Amoah.
Ghana was on the verge of exiting the tournament, needing a win or draw to progress should in case Senegal lose Nigeria since both teams were tied on points.
Ghana came up against Zimbabwe in their final match in Group D. The Warriors had lost two games and needed a miracle to make it to the knockout phase.
Ghana wore their popular white jersey for the two matches but decided to use the black jersey for the first time. The Black Stars had a tough time playing the Zimbabweans who had nothing to lose in the game.
After a barren first 45 minutes of action, the Warriors came into the second half with all guns blazing.
Zimbabwe managed to find the back of the net in the 59th minute goal after Ghana defender Issah Ahmed scored an own-goal. It was a heart-breaking moment for Ghanaians watching the match.
Ghana’s woes later compounded in the 69th minute when Benjani ran on to a loose ball on the edge of the area and calmly slotted the ball into the net to put Zimbabwe 2-0 up.
At this point, the frustration was buzzing in and Ghana was faced with being knocked out of the AFCON at the group stages.
Ghana’s first serious attack in the Zimbabwe goal was squandered by Stephen Appiah, who was in the right place to latch on to a bouncing ball into the net but the skipper blasted the ball wide.
Ghana eventually scored through substitute Baba Adamu ‘Amando’s’ spectacular strike which gave hope to the Black Stars but soon after the ball returned to the center, the referee blasted the whistle to end the match to the disappointment of Ghanaians.
Ghana played the match without key players like Laryea Kingston Asamoah Gyan, Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien.
After the match, fans phoned in on radio airwaves to register their frustration and describe the black jersey as cursed.
Later when Ghana played at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the black jersey rather used a stripped red jersey as the away kit and abandoned the black jersey.
Since the sad 2-1 defeat to Zimbabwe on Tuesday January 31, 2006, Ghana has never worn a black jersey.
Black Princesses head coach, Ben Fokuo has assured that his players will be on a competitive level for the FIFA U-20 World Cup after their heavy defeat to France in a pre-World Cup friendly.
Fokuo promised to intensify the training routines and sharpened the team to reach the level he demands before the tournament starts on August 10, 2022.
The former Ghana U-17 men’s coach said the Black Princesses have had good recovery sessions after the 4-0 defeat on July 29, 2022.
“We will train hard and make sure our strength and fitness level is on the level we want it to be at.”
“After the France game, we had recovery training and the girls are responding to treatment and picking up gradually after the loss against France.”
Fukuo pointed out that the tempo of the friendly against France took the Black Princesses by surprise but the technical team are working on getting the team to a competitive level.
“The tempo of the game with France was totally different from what we expected but now we have seen the problems and with training sessions we had, you can see that the players are picking up quickly and making sure they get their strength to the level of the competition”.
Ghana are paired with the USA, Japan and Netherlands in Group D of the World Cup.
The Black Princesses will begin their campaign against the USA on August 11, before facing Japan on August 14 and then conclude the group stages 3 days later against the Netherlands.
Female referees will officiate matches at this year’s men’s World Cup for the first time in the tournament’s history.
France’s Stephanie Frappart, Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga and Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita have been selected to take charge of games in Qatar.
They will be supported by three female assistant referees.
Premier League referees Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor have also been chosen for the tournament, which begins on Monday, 21 November.
Taylor refereed the Euro 2020 match between Denmark and Finland, and was praised for reacting quickly to ensure Christian Eriksen received urgent medical attention after collapsing on the field.
In total, 36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 video match officials have been chosen for this year’s tournament.
“As always, the criteria we have used is ‘quality first’ and the selected match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide,” said the chairman of Fifa’s referees committee Pierluigi Collina.
“This concludes a long process that began several years ago with the deployment of female referees at Fifa men’s junior and senior tournaments.
“In this way, we clearly emphasise it is quality that counts for us and not gender.
“I would hope that in the future, the selection of elite women’s match officials for important men’s competitions will be perceived as something normal and no longer as sensational.”
Fifa has been urged to set up a compensation fund of at least $440m (£350m) for migrant workers who have suffered “human rights abuses” during preparations for the Qatar World Cup.
Amnesty International made the request in a letter to Fifa president Gianni Infantino.
The letter states: “Until all workers are compensated, the tournament cannot be truly celebrated.”
The sum suggested is equal to the 2022 World Cup prize money fund.
It is estimated up to 30,000 migrant labourers have been used on projects to build seven stadiums for the finals in Qatar, as well as a new airport, new metro and new roads.
Amnesty, along with other human rights organisations and fans’ groups, have called on Fifa not only to support workers who have died or been injured, but who have had pay withheld by employers or been forced to pay recruitment fees in order to secure work.
Amnesty International’s UK chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said there was a role to play for the England team, manager Gareth Southgate and the Football Association to put pressure on Fifa to act.
“Thousands of migrant workers have been exploited and many have tragically died to make this World Cup possible, so we hope the FA and Gareth Southgate and the players will back this innovative scheme to secure much-needed compensation for long-suffering workers’ families,” he said.
“Nothing can bring dead workers back to life or restore the dignity of those who were trapped in conditions amounting to modern-day slavery during Qatar’s World Cup building boom, but a Fifa workers’ fund would still be an important move.”
Fifa said it was assessing the programme proposed by Amnesty and was already looking at ways to compensate workers in association with the organising committee.
“Through the recruitment fee reimbursement scheme, for example, both Fifa World Cup and non-Fifa World Cup workers have received payments of a total $22.6m (£18m) as of December 2021, with an additional $5.7m (£4.5m) committed by contractors,” it said.
Qatar’s World Cup organisers added they had “worked tirelessly” with international groups for the rights of workers on stadiums and other tournament projects.
A spokesperson for the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy said: “Significant improvements have been made across accommodation standards, health and safety regulations, grievance mechanisms, healthcare provision, and reimbursements of illegal recruitment fees to workers.”
Former Black Stars coach, Kwesi Appiah believes that he has seen it all when it comes to managing a football team at the highest level.
Speaking on Untold Stories TV, Kwesi Appiah questioned why he has to return to active football when he has already led the Black Stars at the 2014 World Cup.
According to him, having been a coach and a footballer has taught him a lot and he now wants to impart knowledge to the young ones.
“I have been a player and I have been a coach, for me to coach at the World Cup level what do I need again,†the former Black Stars coach said.
He explained that he enjoys his current work at Kenpong Academy more because there is no pressure on him and has taken him away from verbal abuse by football fans.
“It’s good to impact knowledge and for me being at Kenpong Academy, I love it more than up there.
“Because up there you do the best that you can, those who are coming to compete against you are also coming to do their best,†he stated.
Coach Kwesi Appiah managed the Black Stars at the 2014 World Cup where Ghana crashed out at the group stages for the first time.
He returned to the scene again for the 2019 AFCON where the Black Stars were knocked out at the Quarter-final stages.
Senegalese referee, Maquetta Ndiaye, who dominated the headlines after officiating Ghana’s 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against South Africa has been shortlisted to officiate at the tournament in Qatar.
Ndiaye has been named among a preliminary list that was announced on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, which has 36 center referees, 63 assistant referees, and 36 VAR officials.
The 35-year-old will be hoping to make his first World Cup appearance in his refereeing career.
Ndiaye was named alongside 7 other African referees on the provisional list.
The other 7 include Bakary Gassama from Gambia, Jean Jacques Ndala from RD Congo, Mustapha Ghorbal from Algeria, Redouane Jiyed from Morocco, Balmak Tessema from Ethiopia, Victor Gomez from South Africa, Janny Sikazwe from Zambia.
The final list for the tournament will be announced a month before the intercontinental competition kicks off in November 2022.
Referee Maguetta Ndiaye became topical after officiating Ghana’s Group C FIFA World Cup decider against South Africa in November 2021.
Ghana won 1-0 via Dede Ayew’s penalty goal in the 34th minute. The Black Stars, following the win, topped the group and qualified for the play-off at the expense of the Bafana Bafana.
The aftermath of the match was the penalty call by Ndiaye, in which the South African FA accused the match official of match manipulation and filed a case at FIFA.
Lo and behold, Maquette Ndiaye was vindicated after FIFA dismissed the case in December 2021.
The National Sports Authority(NSA) has reserved 2,000 tickets for Nigerian fans who would want to attend the Super Eagles‘ World Cup qualifier against Ghana at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium. Â
Per FIFA regulations, the home team is to grant 5% of the stadium capacity for the traveling fans. Â
Therefore, the Communications Director for NSA, Charles Amofa, has said although Nigeria requested 10,000 tickets, Ghana will give them 2000 which is in accordance with the FIFA rules.Â
“Our Nigerian brothers who want to watch the game on Friday made a request. They wanted 10,000 that was Cape Coast Stadium. But at Baba Yara, the full capacity is 40,000 so what the Ministry of Youth and Sports has done is that the CAF requirement is 5% of the full capacity so that will be a number of 2,000. With that, the E-ticketing team will block that number for our Nigerian brothers to come and with the game,” he told Peace FM. Â
The match was initially set to be played at the 20,000-seater capacity Cape Coast Stadium but was moved to Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi after Nigeria expressed concerns about the poor state of the Cape Coast pitch. Â
The match which will be played on March 25, 2022, is 7 days away from the kickoff with the Super Eagles expected to land in Ghana on Wednesday, March 23.
Former Ghana Football Association Normalisation Committee president Kofi Amoah believes the West African nation is capable of rising above expectations to win the Fifa World Cup.
Three-time participants at the global showpiece, the Black Stars’ best performance remains a quarter-final finish at the 2010 edition of the tournament held in South Africa.
But for a missed last-gasp extra-time penalty by striker Asamoah Gyan during the last eight clash with Uruguay, Ghana would have been the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of the competition.
“The priority should be strengthening the local football league, including grassroots level. Sammy Kuffuor, Michael Essien and most of our top stars made their names from the grassroots level,” Amoah told Citi Sports.
“When the Germans saw their football was in decline, they took a step back and prepared a plan. It took them 11 years, but they won the World Cup in Brazil [in 2014].
“Ghana can win the World Cup. We have the talent, but the organization and the approach are wrong.
“I hope my friends at the Ghana Football Association will fix it.”
After missing out of on the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Ghana have set their sights on making a prompt return to the championship as the Qatar 2022 qualifiers beckon.
Ghana president Nana Akufo-Addo recently tasked the Black Stars to qualify for next year’s championship and go on to reach the semi-finals.
“The target is to bring the cup home by winning Afcon 2022. We must go a step further than our second-placed finishes in 1992, 2010 and 2015 and end the 40-year drought for a title,†Akufo-Addo said last week.
“We must also reach at least the semi-finals of the World Cup in Qatar. Our exploits in 2010, where we reached the quarter-final in South Africa, tell us that once prepared, we have the quality and the talent to match any of the best teams in the world.
“The task might seem daunting, but it is exactly not insurmountable.”
In the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, Ghana have been pitted against South Africa, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe in the second round. The qualifiers start next month.
World Cup fans will be able to watch an unprecedented four games a day on television, spread out over 11 hours, during the group stage of the Qatar 2022 tournament after the schedule was confirmed on Wednesday.
With the relatively short travel distances for the venues in and around Doha, it could be possible for fans who travel to the 32-team tournament to attend multiple games each day.
The early games will kickoff at 13.00 local time with the fourth match starting at 22.00 local time and finishing just before midnight.
The tournament’s opening game on Nov. 21, will be at the 60,000 capacity Al Bayt Stadium, with its distinctive “tent” style covering.
The final on Dec. 18 will be held at the 80,000 Lusail Stadium, which, like Al Bayt, will also host a semifinal.
Nasser Al Khater, CEO of the Qatar World Cup organising company, said plans for the tournament were well on schedule with 90% of the work finished on roads and infrastructure.
“When we talk about the stadiums, more than 85% of the work has been completed and really now, the last two years, we’re focusing on our operation readiness and making sure we get the fan experience plans in place,” he said.
“The World Cup is always a festival of football, a real celebration for the fans who come on-site and watch,” FIFA chief tournaments and events officer Colin Smith said. “In Qatar, with the compact nature, this is going to be amplified even more with 32 teams and 32 sets of supporters all in and around Doha.
“FIFA will wait until the draw for the tournament is held in March or April of 2022 before assigning specific games to venues and time-slots. That will enable them to better align games with time zones for domestic television partners of the competing teams. The tournament was switched from it’s usual June-July slot due to the heat in the Gulf state and is the first that will be held in the middle of the European season.”
The tournament draw for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is set to be pushed back by two months after FIFA rescheduled qualifying playoffs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
FIFA said in June its council agreed to delay an intercontinental four-team playoff — from March 2022 to June that year — due to fixture congestion.
The 32-team tournament draw was planned for April 2022, likely in Doha. The earliest option is now to hold it in June ahead of the Nov. 21-Dec. 18 tournament.
FIFA has agreed to a $1.5 billion relief plan to help with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global game.
FIFA’s plan means it will dip into its reserves to provide national federations with a number of grants and interest-free loans to cope with budget hits.
Former Ghana goalie Ali Jarrah has revealed how the Black Starlets won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1991.
The 1991 Starlets team became the first Ghanaian side to win a FIFA World Cup following their triumph in Italy.
But according to Ali Jarrah, who was a member of the team, the Black Starlets prepared for almost two years to achieve the historic feat.
“We are an all-round team and we also started the preparations two years before the tournament, so we knew ourselves very well,” he told Citi Tv’s The Tracker Show.
“In our final qualifying game against Morocco, the game was forfeited due to the Gulf War that happened then. When we got there, we were not used to the weather as it was cold, it was only Yaw Preko, Odartey Lamptey and the guys who were already playing in Europe who were comfortable with it. So when the game was cancelled due to the war, everyone jubilated.
“The group were fortunate because right after that, we went to Germany for camping. We were there for over three months. So we acclimatized, studied the weather, played a lot of games and were also high in confidence.
“Odartey Lamptey, Yaw Preko all had European experiences of what the tournament felt like. The likes of Mohammed Gargo, Daniel Addo, Willie Brown and Ernest Opoku are extraordinary players. The calibre of players we had gave us so much confidence.
“We knew we could win the cup when we scored the German U-17 team 6-0 in one of our trial games and so we built up game by game. So we took it a game at a time before reaching the finals against Spain.”
“For me, the Uruguay game is a game I think we won,” John Paintsil says, looking back on one of the most dramatic matches in men’s World Cup history: the 2010 quarter-final between his Ghana side and Uruguay in Johannesburg.
The reality, though, is Ghana didn’t win. A handball by Luis Suarez stopped a certain goalbound shot deep into injury time, in one of the most controversial and memorable moments of that tournament. Suarez was sent off – but Ghana missed the resulting spot-kick and, ultimately, went out on penalties after extra time.
The pain for Paintsil and his team-mate Hans Sarpei still lingers, 10 years on. For many Ghanaians, Suarez is the perpetrator of one of the greatest crimes in the country’s sporting history.
“We were cheated,” Paintsil says.
“To clear the ball from the line with your hand – it’s supposed to be a goal.”
Paintsil says people still talk about the incident in Ghana.
“I can’t forgive him because it was not an accident.” Sarpei adds.
“He knows what he has done. We were crying and you see someone who has cheated us is celebrating. How can I forgive him? Never. Never ever.”
First African World Cup
On the 2 July 2010, Ghana had the footballing hopes of a whole continent on their shoulders.
South Africa was the host of Africa’s first World Cup but Bafana Bafana were unable to make it past the group stage despite a valiant effort.
The other African teams had all been eliminated at the same point, leaving just the Black Stars in the competition.
“On the way to the game against Uruguay, I think everybody knew we could beat them – I think the whole world was supporting us,” left-back Sarpei says.
“The way we play the game: we’re playing on the front, we’re attacking in front. We try to enjoy the game. When you see Ghana, it’s like you’re listening to music because the ball is flowing.”
Ghana took the lead on the stroke of half-time via a 40-yard thunderbolt from former Portsmouth and Inter Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari.
But Diego Forlan equalised with an exquisite free-kick and the two teams proceeded to play out in an engrossing contest – undoubtedly one of the best games of the competition – with both teams spurning chances throughout the game.
But it’s the final few minutes of the match that will forever live in World Cup infamy.
Ghana won a free-kick on the edge of the box, which was whipped in by Paintsil. In an ensuing goalmouth scramble, Suarez legitimately cleared a shot off the line from captain Steven Appiah – before, seconds later, palming Dominic Adiyiah’s header away from goal.
“For me, I thought, ‘last man on the line, touch it with his hand, it’s supposed to be a goal’ – so I was already celebrating that we are through.” Pantsil recalls.
“Then I saw it was a penalty and I said, ‘What?’ I was shouting, ‘No, no, take the ball to the centre (circle), take the ball to the centre.’”
Suarez was sent off, leaving the field in tears, whilst the Ghanaian players began to celebrate.
“I think everybody from our side was thinking ‘yeah, we’re going to the semi-final’ because Asamoah Gyan had scored two penalty goals before and he made it look easy,” Sarpei says.
Gyan had been talismanic for Ghana in the tournament, leading the line and scoring the winner in the previous round against the United States – a game which had also gone to extra time.
“I was standing there and for me the ball was going into the net and we are going through to the next round.” Sarpei recalls.
“Then it hit the crossbar and my first thought was like, ‘is this real?’ Really? The ball is not into the net? What is happening? What is the problem?’
“And then it was difficult. At this moment, when he didn’t score and we had to go to the penalty shootout, the feeling was like, now it will be difficult to go to the next round.”
Suarez, who had stopped in the tunnel to watch the penalty, was pictured celebrating when Gyan missed – something that still rankles with Paintsil.
“After the penalty was missed you came out and then celebrated like you’re on top of the world by hurting people. At least be a professional, feel the pain. Just go to your dressing room and celebrate and then nobody will see it.”
Suarez was quoted in the press saying “the hand of God now belongs to me”, referencing Diego Maradona’s goal against England at the 1986 World Cup.
Ghana would go on to lose via a penalty shootout and with it went Africa’s golden opportunity to win a World Cup.
In the two tournaments since, no African team has come close to reaching the semi-final stage.
The match against Ghana is where Luis Suarez first gained international notoriety. Six months later, he would join Liverpool from Dutch giants Ajax.
Suarez took a gamble that helped his country get into its first semi-final since 1970, but they were beaten 3-2 by the Netherlands without him.
“One has to do what one has to do to make his country proud and that’s what he did to us,” says Paintsil – but asked if put in the same position as Suarez, whether he would handle the ball, he was adamant.
“There’s no African player that would have done that,” he argues.
“Africans are more athletic. Even when the ball is on the other line, I would have tried to kick the ball, kung-fu style.”
They say time heals old wounds. But 10 years on, the wound still appears to be open for Hans and John.
“It still pains. I’m still feeling it anytime I think about it,” says Pantsil.
“A lot of things would have changed in Ghanaian football, in our country and also in Africa. Maybe adding numbers to the next World Cup, the more an African team goes forward, the more we can add more countries to our package. For me I don’t know when I’m going to forget about this memory but now it’s part of me.”
Legendary Ghana forward Asamoah Gyan has shared memories from the 2010 World Cup, describing the tournament in South Africa a decade ago as the turnaround in his career.
Gyan was in top form netting three times as the Black Stars reach the quarter finals of the World Cup, becoming only the third African country to achieve the feat.
Ghana’s all time leading scorer, Gyan revealed the World Cup made him a household name despite his exploits before 2010.
“Honestly, it changed my life,” he told Tv3. “I always say the 2010 year was the best year in my career. Everything I did was working, even I came to music I had so many awards, businesses was working, I was having contracts, winning awards, my whole life changed,” he added
“I became an icon and everybody saw in the whole world and even in the tournament I was in the top three, I was on top of the world and leaving the life I wanted,” he continued.
“I started the form from 2009 entering 2010 through to the World Cup so I was in top shape physically, mentally. So I was enjoying my football, scoring goals.
“Obviously the World Cup made me a household name. In Ghana everybody knew who I was but this World Cup made me very very famous and everywhere I went everybody knew me.”
Ghana were billed to begin their qualifying campaign for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in October but with the current Covid-19 disruptions, much seems to be up in the air.
Having failed to qualify for the 2018 gathering in Russia, the West Africans are eagerly anticipating the next round of qualifiers.
A bye in the first round means the Black Stars are having to wait until the commencement of the second round to stick out a leg in action.
Ghana have qualified for the World Cup on three occasions.
On their maiden appearance at Germany 2006, the Black Stars surpassed expectations, beating the Czech Republic and the United States to finish second behind Italy at the group stage and qualify for the Round of 16 where they bowed to reigning champions Brazil.
At South Africa 2010, the West Africans went one step further as they reached the quarter-finals. Brazil 2014 would, however, end on a disappointing note for the four-time African champions as they suffered a first-round elimination for the first time.
Status quo before coronavirus
Caf’s second round of World Cup qualifiers was originally set to begin in March but was later moved to October to make way for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers after the final tournament for the latter was brought forward from June/July 2021 to January/February 2021.
A January draw pitted Ghana against familiar foes South Africa, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia in Group G to battle it out for the sole qualification ticket for the third and final round in the race to Qatar.
Matchday 1’s set of games are scheduled to come off between October 5-13 while Matchday 2 action is billed to take place between November 9-17.
There will be no further matches until March next year when a double-header takes centre stage with matchdays three and four.
The penultimate matchday of second-round matches have been set for August 30 – September 7, 2021, with the last round coming off between October 4 -12, 2021.
Will Covid-19 cause a change to the qualifying calendar?
Caf has already been forced to make a major change to its international calendar as Afcon 2021 qualifying matches billed for March were all postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus.
June’s round of games has also been similarly affected as many nations are yet to open their closed borders to permit their international travels.
Caf has stated it will announce a new programme in due time.
With all the disruptions, it is currently unclear if Caf will be altering the current World Cup qualifying schedule which is still five clear months away from kicking in.
On the face of things, particularly with football beginning to return in many jurisdictions, it may be possible to play international games by October.
However, with the Afcon final set for January/February next year, the continental football’s governing body may be forced to move the World Cup qualifying matches further away to enable the completion of the Afcon qualifiers in time should it hesitate to reschedule the final Afcon tournament one more time.
The Ahmad Ahmad-led administration is soon expected to announce the way forward for its competitions.
Football’s world governing body FIFA has announced new dates for the U-17 Women’s World Cup which was postponed due to Coronavirus.
The new dates for the tournament to be hosted by India will be from February 17 to March 7, 2021.
The competition was originally scheduled for November 2 to November 21, 2020, but changes had to be made following the impact of COVID-19 on sports forcing all qualifying games to be postponed.
Meanwhile, the eligibility criteria for the tournament still remains the same with players born on or after 1 January 2003 and on or before 31 December 2005 cleared to compete.
The Black Maidens of Ghana will now wait on the Confederation of Africa football for it’s final round qualifiers against Nigeria.
Ghana reached the final round of qualifiers after beating Liberia 10-0 on aggregate.
The women’s Under-17 World Cup, due to be held in India in November, has been postponed for three month, FIFA said Tuesday, adding to a growing list of sporting events hit by the pandemic.
The tournament, to be played in five cities across the country, will now start February 17, football’s governing body said.
India is looking to boost its international standing as a host of top sporting events after holding the men’s Under-17 World Cup in 2017.
“All the host cities have put in a lot of effort and commitment so far, and we are happy that the new dates will allow them to make up for the lost time and provide momentum going forward,” the local organising committee said after the FIFA announcement.
FIFA also unveiled new dates for this year’s U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica and Panama. It will now be played from January 20 to February 6, 2021.
The 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania has been pushed back to September 12 next year.
Meanwhile, the 70th FIFA Congress, which was due to be held in Addis Ababa, will be run as an online event on September 18.
The coronavirus has brought international sport to a standstill, but some football leagues are restarting — albeit behind closed doors.
South Korea’s K-League came back to life last Friday and Germany’s Bundesliga football championship is to restart this weekend in empty stadiums.
The season would also kick off one week earlier and finish a week later.
It means that there would be only six weekends without Premier League games.
The issue will be discussed at the next Premier League shareholders’ meeting in November.
Any such proposals would clash with national associations’ plans, given they usually allow several weeks for their players to prepare for the tournament.
Shampoo and baby oil have become essentials in the training kit in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup as Japan’s unpredictable weather threatens to have a significant influence on the tournament.
The prospect of snap changes from dry to wet and back again, and in intense humidity, have coaches working on plans to cover every scenario.
“The big thing will be the ball. That’ll be the constant thing. The humidity will be high and the ball will be wet so skills will be really important,” says All Blacks coach Steve Hansen.
Hansen, on a mission for New Zealand’s third consecutive World Cup win, has been happy just to soak the ball in water during training sessions to mimic wet conditions.
But other teams have taken a more out-of-the-box approach.
Warren Gatland has admitted to using baby oil to make the balls slippery during Wales training sessions, while Scotland have turned to hair care, applying shampoo and conditioner to replicate a sweaty ball.
“The sweat is more of an issue. The wet is obviously not ideal, but the sweat is difficult to deal with,” assistant coach Mike Blair said.
England coach Eddie Jones, who has forecast an England-New Zealand final, has made Japan’s notorious autumn weather a central element in his planning over the past four years.
Having previously coached in Japan, the Australian-born England mentor has marked physical and mental resilience as key elements he wanted from players in his World Cup squad.
– ‘Shocking conditions’ –
England?s hooker Jamie George explained: “We have buckets (of water) on the side of the pitch and we put the ball in that before we throw it.”
But there have been no novel training tricks for Ireland, even though there is the prospect of torrential rain when they play their first game against Scotland on Sunday.
Loose forward Rhys Ruddock says the world’s number one-ranked side are quite at home in the wet.
“We’ve had some big performances in the past in shocking conditions so it’s not dampening excitement for the match,” he said.
However, the issue for Ireland was adapting to what could be varying weather conditions during the 80 minutes of playing time, and which could prove crucial.
“I would think we’re going to have to prepare for all outcomes, in terms of the weather,” Ruddock said.
“We might just have to adjust things on the day. We’ve got a plan for best-placed scenario and worst-placed scenario, with as little tweaking in between as we have to.
“The guys who are making those decisions on the day will have options depending on how the game’s going, what the score is, the time on the clock and the weather definitely comes into it.”
The forecast for the opening weekend of the tournament is for temperatures around 22 degrees Celsius (72 Fahrenheit) with fine weather interspersed with heavy rain.
Two people died when Typhoon Faxai battered Japan earlier this month, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power and disrupting travel for some arriving World Cup teams.