Blackstars to camp in Portugal

The senior national team, Blackstars, will start camping in Portugal on 15th May to prepare for the upcoming world cup.

They are expected to play a series of warm-up matches against the Portugal, Belgium, lran and South Korea which is now confirmed.

According to GFA Management member, Fred Pappoe, they decided on Portugal camping because, the weather condition in that country, is similar to that of Germany the host country of the worldcup.

Meanwhile, Coach Sam Arday and Jones Attuquafio have been officially appointed as scouts and monitors to help coach Ratomir Duckovic.

Arday, Attuquayefio Receive Appointment Letters

Graphic -- Two of Ghana?s foremost technical brains, Sam Arday and Cecil Jones Attuquayefio, have been officially appointed by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to scout for players for the Black Stars coach with immediate effect as the team prepares for the Germany 2006 World Cup.

This was confirmed to the Daily Graphic by Coach Arday in an interview at Gomoa Fetteh yesterday, ending weeks of speculation on the subject.

To indicate his readiness for the job, the Feyenoord Academy Technical Director forwarded his acceptance letter to the General Secrtary of the GFA, Mr Kofi Nsiah, yesterday.

This, according to him, was after he had been given the greenlight by his employers, Feyenoord Rotterdam, in Holland.

He explained that after receiving the appointment letter, he had to seek clearance first from his principals in Holland to enable him to respond to the national call.

He, however, described the appointment as long overdue since the issue of scouting is a common phenomenon among serious soccer countries worldwide.

Even before getting the nod, Coach Arday, popularly known as the ?Multi-System Man?, had initiated a process of monitoring the performance of Ghanaian players abroad.

That is evidenced in a data he has gathered on some players who are performing well in Europe including Borussia Dortmund?s swift winger, David Odonkor, and PSV Eindhoven midfielder, Eric Addo.

When contacted on phone later, Coach Attuquayefio confirmed the story, though he said he was yet to receive his appointment letter.

He pointed out, however, that he had been informed about the appointment letter and was going to pick it at the Liberty Professionals secretariat yesterday.

The two are expected to monitor the perfomance of Ghanaian players abroad and gather information on Ghana?s World Cup opponents before and during the World Cup, among others.