The Chairman of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Ben Koufie, says it would be better for the nation to forget reclaiming the Africa Cup of Nations trophy if local club officials are unwilling to release their players for preparation towards the tournament

The tournament kicks off in Mali from January 19 to February 10 next year. Mr Koufie told the GNA Sports in Accra that he was surprised at reports that some club officials are not in favour of their players being called to camp on Mondays and released to their clubs on Fridays to enable them feature in the local league.

The Chairman said ''it is the same club officials who would turn round to blame the GFA for poor planning if the Black Stars fail. "This thing does not happen in any Africa country expect Ghana. But they have to remember that you can't eat your cake and have it", he said.

"We should not behave as if the GFA is some where and the clubs are at a different place. We need each other to move the country's soccer forward", Ben Koufie told the GNA. "Ghana belongs to you and me. We need each other if we really want to make an impact in Mali", he said.

Asked what he would do to solve the problem, Mr Koufie said, he had already met with club officials to look at the way forward. He said if in the past club officials were not informed about invitation to their players to join the national team, his administration would put a stop to it. "Club officials need to be respected by at least writing to them because they own and pay the players".

On the CAN 2002 draw, Mr Koufie said it is quite balanced but " my personal opinion is I think our group is the toughest". Ghana is paired in-group B alongside, South Africa, Morocco and Burkina Faso.

Mr Koufie said with the right preparation the Black Stars could scale over its opponents. He said there should be no qualms as to who would play for Ghana adding "once we have a strong local team and an in-form foreign-based players, the blend would be easy.

The Chairman said once Burkina Faso is paired with the Stars in-group B, the original plan of moving to Ouagadougou to acclimatize has changed. He said the team would either pitch camp in Mali or Northern Ghana provided there are standard facilities for the final brush up.