Soccer News of Saturday, 23 January 2010

Source: DAP/daj/APA

Highly motivated Star poised to override Angola

The Black Stars of Ghana are poised to overcome the home advantage of Angola’s Palancas Negras national team in the ongoing CAN 2010 in Angola following the government’s motivation to the players and the technical team.

The Black Stars play Angola on Sunday in a crucial quarter-final match at the November 11 Stadium in Luanda and they are highly motivated to oust the host team from the tournament.

The Black Stars, which was hit by a tall injury list, qualified to the next stage after beating Burkina Faso by a lone goal, having lost 1-3 to Ivory Coast in their opening game.

The recovery of midfield gem Anthony Annan and Eric Addo Pappoe, a defender, has given hope to Ghanaians that the Stars could scale through given the right technical direction.

Injured Stars captain, Michael Essien is reported to have left camp for his Chelsea base in England and has received wide bashing from soccer fans in Ghana following his cold reaction towards Ghana’s winning goal over Burkina Faso last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, soccer fans were quick to caution the Stars to beware of slippery Angolan players such as Manucho, Gilberto and Flavio Amando, who have the skill to change the game within seconds.