Parliament commends Black Stars on victory

Accra, June 23, GNA - Parliament on Friday commended the Black Stars on their 2-1 victory over the United States of America in the last of their Group E matches of the World Cup tournament underway in Germany.

The joyous House, dominated by a sea of white outfits, others dressed in the national colours of red, gold green with a black star and Areeba hats to match, cheered the spectacular performance of the senior national team as the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Felix Owusu-Adjapong read a congratulatory message to the Black Stars. "I stand to express my felicitation over the victory of the national football team, the Black Stars, to the players, the technical team, officials of the Ghana Football Association and also to all the enthusiastic football fans for their support and prayers

"Our competent and determined players made our nation proud. They checked the Czechs two goals to nothing and dispatched the USA two goals to one. In fact, it is good and proud to be a Ghanaian", Mr Owusu-Adjapong said. Ghana's boys were determined to put up an impressive performance in the on-going competition and having corrected their mistakes over the initial loss over their game with the Azzuri of Italy, there was no denying the Stars victory in their second match even though they played against the team that ranked second in the world.

"The Black Stars, instead of being deterred, were rather confident and prepared to go all out to ensure a win, since that was going to determine their progression in the tournament," Mr Owusu-Adjapong said.

"Mr Speaker, the boys deserve to be honoured. They have really made us proud for the spectacular performance they put up. Through their tremendous performance, Ghana has now been printed on the minds of over two billion football fans all over the world... If I'm not mistaken, over five billion people now know that there is a country by name Ghana as a result of the marvellous performance of our boys. "I boldly stand here to say that the name of Ghana will never be forgotten, especially for having scored the fastest goal recorded in a time of sixty-eight seconds in FIFA World Cup 2006.

Mr Owusu-Adjapong thanked Ghana's retired footballers and expressed appreciation to every single individual who contributed substantially to the success of the Black Stars, as well as congratulating the technical bench and the supporters for a well-executed job. Mr Abuga Pele, NDC Member for Chiana-Paga, in a contribution, observed that the Black Stars had the potentials to get to the finals and what was needed was to build a formidable team to match the Brazilians who played in a relaxed manner. He said by the performance of the Black Stars, Africa had gained back its respectability in football and increased the number of African countries that did well at the tournament.

Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, NPP Member for Akim Oda, praised the private sector, mentioning Tarkwa Goldfields that gave an initial three million dollars, followed by the Ghana Commercial Bank as sponsorship packages to towards the tournament. Comparing the physical structure for the players of the USA team, Mr Osafo-Maafo described football as a manly game, which required that young men and women of strong structure were identified and groomed for the game.

Mr Enoch Teye Mensah NDC Member for Ningo Prampram paid tribute to past football administrators Nana Brew Butler, Mr Ade Coker, Coaches Sam Arday, E K Afranie and Sir Jones Attuquayefio, Alhaji Nurudeen Jawula and Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, during whose time as Minister of Sports that the Stars qualified for the World Cup. Ms Akua Sena Dansua Deputy Minority Chief Whip, glorified mothers in Ghana for taking good care of their boys who had grown to bring honour to the nation, adding that, the victory was an opportunity to reconcile the nation.