Starlets Succumb To The Might Of Spain...U 17

Spain was Physically Superior...... Spain 2-1 Ghana Scorers: D. Aquino(67') Saddick Adams (80') Bojan (116) Live Links: Others for US/Canada Viewers Ulsan, South Korea -- They say that the pressure of being among the favourites makes the task of winning a tournament all the harder. If that is indeed the case, then both Spain and Ghana fully deserve their places in the semi-finals at the FIFA World Cup Korea 2007. All that remains to be decided when the duo meet at the Ulsan Complex Stadium on Wednesday is who will have the honour of contesting Sunday's Final and who will have the consolation of battling for third place.
The stakesThe Iberians had to dig very deep to shake off France in the quarter-finals. The boys in blue dominated for long periods by adopting a simple tactic - keeping the ball. And it was only when coach Juan Santisteban switched things around in the second half that Spain got into the game and showed their teeth up front, something they will certainly need to do against the Ghanaians. The major doubt surrounding the Spanish is how they will react after expending so much energy in last Saturday's gruelling duel with the French.
The Black Starlets should be much in fresher condition after comfortably disposing of Peru. Sellas Tetteh's side have also improved since the tournament began and appear to be peaking at just the right time. Much will depend on how Ghana's potent strike duo of Ransford Osei (five goals to date) and Sadick Adams fare against the solid Spanish defence, marshalled by in-form keeper David de Gea.
The playersNeither Ghana nor Spain have any suspension problems. Ghana boss Tetteh has a full squad to choose from after Francis Boadi served out his one-match in the quarters, while opposite number Santisteban is still waiting on midfielder Jordi's ankle injury and defender Alberto Morgado's muscle strain.
The pastThe Ulsan clash will be the fifth meeting between the sides at a FIFA U-17 World Cup. With two wins and two draws so far it is Ghana who have the edge, the most important of those triumphs coming in the Final at Italy 1991, where they won 1-0 to land the first of their two world titles in the category.
The two sides met earlier on in that competition, drawing 1-1 in the group phase, a result they repeated at the same stage at New Zealand 1999. The Africans' other victory came at Egypt 1997, where they beat the Spanish 2-1 in a group match.




The words"The main challenge facing us will be physical, as Ghana are a very tough side and they have not had to work as hard as we have. We also need to be intelligent. When we've got the ball we need to move it around and try to frustrate them, and when they have it we need to be on our guard and try and hit them on the counter." Juan Santisteban, Spain coach.
"Possession is vital to us because we struggle when we don't have the ball. It's going to be very hard because Ghana aren't like other African sides who are physically very strong but lack a little technique. They've got both things." Jordi, Spain midfielder.
"Our finishing needs to be a little sharper because we can't afford to miss any chances that come our way against the Spanish. It could cost us dear if we do. All the same, I'm convinced we can play good football against anyone, even against a team as strong as Spain." Sellas Tetteh, Ghana coach.
"We know we've got what it takes to reach the final. Spain are a good side but we are determined to beat them and go for the title. Although we are playing really well, there is always room for improvement, and we hope to step up another level against the Spanish." Ransford Osei, Ghana forward.
Source:FIFA

...To Hell With Your Fake Polls...

Former Press Secretary to President Kufuor and New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential aspirant, Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, has rubbished all opinion polls including the recent one purportedly carried out by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) on who is likely to win the party’s presidential slot.From the very early months of this year, there have been several polls carried out by so many agencies, which different polls claims this or that aspirant is leading the pack of presidential hopefuls as the party prepares for its congress starting December 22, 2007 to pick a candidate to lead it to ‘war’ in the 2008 general elections. And not in any or all of those polls is Kwabena Agyapong mentioned as a serious contender let alone leading the pack of eighteen aspirants.He has thus branded all those polls as the works of lazy people. According to the tough-talking aspirant, he would not waste his time mulling over the countless opinion polls on the chances of the various aspirants, since the so-called pollsters of all those reports only sit in Accra, and conduct surveys that are not representative of the population of party delegates across the length and breadth of the country.Speaking to the Independent newspaper yesterday on the purported BNI report, which put him nowhere among the leading contenders, and even went on to suggest that, “he is a young politician full of ambition, but has a small bony chest,” Mr. Agyepong stated categorically that, he does not care about any BNI report. Speaking in a way that clearly portrayed his disregard for the so-called BNI report, Mr. Agyepong was forthright in pointing out that, rather than waste his time on meaningless polls, he prefers to focus on his campaign, which he knows is going on successfully.Speaking in the affirmative, Mr. Agyapong pointed out that he is not the least perturbed by the BNI report, since that cannot replace the views and preferences of the numerous NPP delegates, who will make the life-changing decision on the D-Day. The party delegates, not the BNI, will decide on the floor of the congress, he stated confidently. Casting further doubts on all opinion polls conducted so far, the former presidential spokesperson dared all pollsters to produce even three items on the questionnaires they claim they distribute to potential delegates to fill in all the 230 constituencies.That is the material they used to collect data, upon which they are making those claims, isn’t it, he queried, so let them publish that too for all to see, he dared them. He suggested that a good number of the potential aspirants get annoyed anytime they hear of these supposed opinion polls, because it is not a true reflection of what is on the ground. According to him, his is confident of winning because he has worked very hard in the constituencies, and that the delegates are buying his message. He added that, he is not going to indulge in any lazy politics based on lazy polls conducted by lazy pollsters.The supposed BNI report, which is being serialized by the Ghanaian Observer newspaper, puts former Foreign Minister, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo in the lead. The survey further stated about Kwabena Agyapong: Even though the party faithful and most especially the leadership of the party know him, he is seen as politically immature”. It adds, his detractors describe him as arrogant and someone who would make an insignificant impact come the party’s presidential primary.
Source:The Independent

HIV/Aids Increases in Ghana

There has been an increase in HIV/Aids in Ghana this year, in spite of increased education on preventive measures to curb the prevalence of the disease.Speaking to the ADM yesterday, the Public Relations Officer for the Ghana Aids Commission, Eric Padwura said the Commission's statistics for the 2007 Sentinel Survey show that the rate of HIV infection among pregnant women has increased from 2.7% to 3.2%. The national prevalence rate has also gone up from 2.1% to 2.2%.The Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Awuku-Amoah, said the Commission is aware of the challenges involved in reducing the infection.He said an amount of ¢30 billion will further be disbursed in the fight against the spread of the disease.He however, expressed worry about the fact that most young people are not listening to the education campaigns for safe sex. He said most young people have not been using condoms and the cause of the increase can be attributed to refusal among young people, mostly to change their behaviour.Despite the increase, he said the Commission will not relent in its efforts in educating the public to adopt behaviour change to curtail the spread of the disease in the country.
Source:Accra Mail

Media should make NPP flag bearer campaign civil - Botwe

Mr Daniel Kwaku Botwe, an aspiring presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), on Tuesday appealed to media houses, particularly those affiliated to the party, to be circumspect about their comments on the aspirants to maintain unity within the party after the December 22 Congress. The use of the media to scandalize presidential aspirants, he said was an unhealthy democratic practice, as it had the potential of undermining the Danquah/Busia political philosophy and create a difficult task for the party to manage after the Congress in the event of one such personality wining the flag bearership slot."The party will hold media houses and presidential aspirants whose conduct and comments overtly create tension and mar the cordial and peaceful relationships that have existed within the party responsible," Mr Botwe, a former NPP General Secretary and Minister of Information, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra.Mr Botwe, who is also a former Minister of Information, lauded the efforts and contributions of journalists towards the democratic development of the country, but noted that recent unguarded publications and comments on the airwaves posed a big threat to our democracy. He urged the media to adhere to the ethics of the profession, champion the cause of the vulnerable, create a level playing field for all contestants and ensure that the public were objectively informed on issues to make the right choices.Mr Botwe also expressed concern about the poor working conditions of most journalists, especially those in the public sector and called on the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the National Media Commission (NMC) to champion a crusade for a review of the salaries and service conditions of journalists in relationship with the salary structure of other workers in the country.On his presidential ambitions, he declared that he was on course. "I have a very competent team working tirelessly across the country and am confident that our efforts would result in massive vote (for me) at the Congress."Mr Botwe dismissed rumours that he would step down to support another candidate as "wicked" and called on delegates and sympathisers to lend him the needed support.He said there was no iota of truth in the rumour that he was only "testing the waters" and would later support one of the nearly two-dozen candidates in the race."I am still in the race and will never withdraw," Mr Botwe stressed. "I am not stepping out of the contest. I will give Ghanaians my time-measured plans aimed at developing the country for social and economic development."Mr Botwe noted further that no one went to war in anticipation of being killed or being vanquished and said adequate measures were in place to ensure he won the primaries convincingly. He said as former General Secretary and organizer he knew how to galvanize support for votes, adding that he placed these abilities at the party's disposal, which culminated in the 2000 and 2004 electoral victories.Mr Botwe said the 2008 elections would be keenly contested hence the party needed someone who had been with the people through difficult times to retain power.He said if he had the mandate he would continue to offer selfless leadership to the party, adding that if he became president, he would offer dedicated leadership to the nation and the world. "That's why I continue to appeal to delegates to translate their support into votes on December 22 at the Congress," he stated. Mr Botwe explained that he would continue to pursue a campaign, which would ensure decency in the party, stressing that the rank and file demanded nothing but a clean campaign in the primaries because "we cannot afford to disappoint our members".He said he had a lot of passion for the nation and would ensure that Ghanaians experienced accelerated development after 2008, since the Kufuor Administration had laid a solid foundation for economic take-off. "But this calls for a leader who has the capacity to lead effectively and I rightly fit into that," he said.Mr Botwe said, however, that in spite of the economic gains achieved, there was still a high degree of poverty in the rural areas. "As I went round the villages, I saw the vast difference between the rich and the poor and I think an NPP government under Dan Botwe will seriously look at that," he stated. 4 Sept. 07
Source:GNA