Ghana Vrs. Greece: Black Stars in Disarray

A near disaster in the Black Stars' buildup for next month's Nations Cup tournament was averted at the weekend when a planned warm-up match against Greece tonight was saved at the eleventh hour.

The absence of most of the invited foreign-based players caused the Ghana Football Association to cancel the friendly. As at last Friday, the Stars? head coach Giuseppe Dossena was ready to have the match called off as response from the foreign-based players was largely negative.

However, the Italian and the GFA kept their communication lines open throughout the weekend as last-minute efforts yielded positive response from the team's captain Charles Akunnor and four others who are expected to be in action when the Stars line up against Greece in Athens today.

Last Sunday, Dossena together with 14 locally-based players flew out of the country to be joined by Akunnor, Portugal-based strikers Kwame Ayew and Augustine Ahinful, and wing-back Eben Dugbatey of French club Lorient, Germany-based Daniel Addo is also expected to make a comeback to the team after almost three years absence. The match will be Greece's second clash with an African side in the last two months, following their 2-0 victory over the Super Eagles of Nigeria in a similar Nations Cup warm-up game in Athens.

The Black Stars are expected to move to Sfax, Tunisia, to face their Tunisia counterparts in another international friendly encounter on December 22. Before opening the 2000 Nations Cup with Cameroun, in Accra on January 23 the Stars will host the North Africans in what the GFA terms "a joint training exercise" and also play the Pharaohs of Egypt in a return encounter.