Injured Kuffuor fails to make Egypt trip

Bayern Munich defender, Samuel Osei Kuffuor, who is scheduled to join his colleagues in Egypt for Friday’s international friendly against the Pharaohs in Cairo failed to honour coach Osam-Duodu’s invitation due to a thigh injury he is currently nursing.

Kufuor returned home from Germany with a thigh injury he suffered during a recent league game in the Bundesliga. And as the Stars head coach was expecting to see him in action against the Egyptians after accepting to receive him back into the provisional squad for Mali 2002, Kuffuor was said to have sought official permission to work on his thigh injury to avoid aggravating it.

A Graphic Sports story said sources close to the player indicated that the Bayern Munich star, who is on the threshold of winning the Africa Best Player award, is currently on a daily training regimen to ensure a speedy recovery in order to join his colleagues.

According to the sources, Kuffuor has given a firm assurance of featuring for the Stars in their final trial match against Benin in Accra on January 11.

Coach Osam-Duodu signalled for travel arrangements to be made to enable Kuffuor join the team in Egypt after the Minister of Youth and Sports, Hon Edward Osei Kwaku, had briefed him on an earlier discussion with the player in respect of recent problems over the captaincy and preparations for Mali 2002.
However, all efforts to contact Kuffuor on phone to confirm the story proved futile. Meanwhile, Osam-Duodu will be the center of attraction this weekend as Ghanaians eagerly look forward to his final team for CAN 2002.
In exactly three days from hence, the veteran coach is expected to name a 22-man squad, which will represent the nation in the high profile biennial continental parade in Mali. As he had earlier indicated, the list will be released after the Stars penultimate build-up trial against the Pharaohs of Egypt at the Cairo National Stadium on Friday.
With such a huge responsibility hanging upon his head at this crucial moment, Osam-Duodu can certainly not be envied by anybody. This is especially so in view of the fact that he has as many as 38 determined players to choose from. What even makes the task quite daunting is the high level of competition for positions among the players.
In spite of these challenges, coupled with the high expectation among Ghanaians to see certain players in the final list, the veteran coach does not seem perturbed in the least. In a recent interview before the team’s departure to Spain for the friendly against the Basque Country XI, which the Stars lost 2-3, he played down the fact that selecting the final team will be any bother to him.
In an apparent psychological gimmick to defuse the looming tension, Osam-Duodu revealed that after having been in the coaching business for year, he already had an idea as to those who will comprise the final squad.
According to him he had a monitoring system in place for invited foreign-based players while working on the locals in camp. That notwithstanding, the fact still remains that the task of getting in place a formidable squad from the lot will be no easy assignment for Osam-Duodu and his assistant, Francis Oti-Akenteng.
Currently, the list of foreign-based in the team stands at 18, in addition to 20 locals. However, some casualties cannot be ruled out from the local component especially, where the Stars handlers made their intentions clear in some earlier friendlies where about 11 players featured prominently.