Alfred Duncan will find out whether he will stay at Inter Milan

Ghana U20 midfielder Alfred Duncan will know whether he will remain with Inter Milan or be sold after the sacking of Andrea Stramaccioni.

The 20-year-old midfield dynamo was promoted to the Inter first team
squad by Stramaccioni last season after excelling with the reserves
squad.

Stramaccioni had insisted he will not sell the Black Satellites
midfielder to Sampdoria nor Cagliari who have been chasing after his
signature.

However, the 37-year-old was fired by Inter Thursday night with Walter Mazzarri hired to replace him.

Duncan is still on loan with Livorno who are battling to secure promotion to the Serie A – playing in the promotion series.

He could option to remain with Livorno if they secure promotion the Serie A.

Zambian team to battle Namibia in friendly

By Ameenu Shardow

Zambia will be presenting a team full of local players in a friendly game against Namibia on Saturday ahead of their 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

The Chipolopolo look to inject more life into their campaign for a first ever World Cup qualification with the friendly in Windhoek.

Zambia will be hosting Lesotho on June 8 and will also welcome Sudan a week after in June’s round of qualifiers.

Renard Herve’s side look to maintain their one-point lead of favourites; Ghana by winning both games early next month in Ndola.

The 2012 African champions have dipped in form in recent times – winning only once in their last nine games.

Their poor run has seen Ghana gain grounds on them in the 2014 World Cup qualifying series.

The Black Stars lie just a point behind with three matches left and a vital final game against Zambia back on their home grounds in Ghana.

The friendly against Namibia also gives coach Renard Herve a final opportunity to determine his replacements for goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene who is suspended and injured Stoppila Sunzu.

Edwin Gyimah will be in action for SuperSport on Saturday

By Ameenu Shardow

Ghana midfielder Edwin Gyimah will be competing for his second career title when SuperSport United face Kaizer Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup final on Saturday.

The 22-year-old has earned a recall to the Black Stars team for next month’s 2014 World Cup qualifiers following consistent displays in the South African top flight.

Gyimah’s exploits has also earned him nominations for the Best Player award in this season’s Nedbank Cup as well as the Most Promising Player of the tournament.

The Nedbank Cup competition is similar to the FA Cup tournaments held in several countries.

His impressive performance in the holding midfield role is expected to power his side to victory over Kaizer Chiefs at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

It will be the second major career title for Gyimah who was part of the Matsatsantsa side that won the same competition last year.

Christian Atsu arrived on Friday night

By Ameenu Shardow

Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Christian Atsu and Awal Mohammed arrived on Friday night ahead of the official opening of the Ghana camp for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

The Black Stars will begin preparations towards games against Sudan and Lesotho on Monday.

The team will be pitching a non-residential camp in Accra before flying out for their training camp in Ethiopia on Thursday.

Following the early completion of their domestic campaigns abroad, trio; Agyemang-Badu, Atsu and Mohammed are amongst the early arrivals ahead of the team’s first training session on Monday morning.

They join Baba Abdul Rahman who arrived a day earlier.

A near full-house is expected by Sunday night where most of the players are expected to arrive.

The only exceptions are Edwin Gyimah and Mubarak Wakaso who are in club action this weekend for SuperSport United and Espanyol respectively.

The players have shown tremendous commitment to national team call ups under coach Akwasi Appiah.

Most have them have reported very early ahead of camping schedules to show their seriousness towards Black Stars assignments.

Ghana must win both games against Sudan and Lesotho to remain on course for a third successive World Cup qualification.

The Black Stars will first travel to face Sudan on June 7 before flying out to Maseru after holding another training camp in Johannesburg to face Lesotho a week after.

Ghana are currently second in Group D with six points – just one point behind leaders Zambia with three matches left.

Albert Adomah on his way out of Bristol City

By Ameenu Shardow

Relegated Bristol City have slashed their asking price for Ghana winger Albert Adomah.

The Robins are looking to raise some money to beef up their squad ahead of their campaign in League One.

Bristol are looking to make a quick return to the English Championship but must first raise some cash to build a formidable to power their bid in the English third tier.

The club this looks to raise part of their revenue from the sale of exciting Ghana winger Adomah.

Their asking price in the recent past has however scared off suitors.

Newly promoted Premier League side Cardiff City were said to be keen on 0n the Ghanaian but Bristol’s £2m tag scared them off.

They are now likely to return for their man with news the Ashton Gate outfit have halved their demands to £1m.

This clears the path to see Adomah make his long awaited entry into the English top flight.

He reported to be on the radar of Swansea last season but a deal did not materialize.

Goalkeeper Awad

Egypt U-20 goalkeeper Mossad Awad is on the verge of signing for a Ghanaian club in order to rescind his contract with Ismaili and join Ahli.

The 20-year-old is under an amateur contract with the Dervishes, who are reluctant to sell him to their bitter rivals this summer.

According to the regulations of the Egyptian FA, an amateur player is free to leave his club for another only outside Egypt, which does not allow Awad join African champions Ahli.

“The president of the Ghanaian club is in Egypt now and I will travel with him to complete the transfer,” Awad’s agent Amir Marakbi said.

“We know that Ismaili chairman Mohamed Aboul-Saoud has accepted the offer from Ahli but most of the other board members refuse the move.

“So this will always bring us back to square one and the only solution is to get a contract outside Egypt and then join Ahli.”

It is understood that Ismaili chairman Aboul-Saoud is trying to convince the rest of his board to accept the Ahli bid instead of watching their youngster leave for free.

Kwesi Appiah’s squad has some notable absentees

By Akyereko Frimpong Manson

Kwesi Appiah has slammed the Black Stars door on the faces of some players despite their promising seasons and displaying of artistic merits.

The inclusion of Jonathan Mensah, Samuel Inkoom and Dominic Adiyiah has dominated the headlines in the media while local fans have questioned certain omissions.

Ghanasoccernet.com’s picks the top seven players who could have made the 25-man squad with their season stats as a guide.

Godfred Saka – Aduana Stars

At left-back, Saka is quick, aggressive and visionary.

The Aduana Stars full-back has been snubbed again

The 21-year-old’s gift allows him to combine duties – scoring incredible goals from set pieces and providing the brilliance of a modern day full-back.

His wonderful free-kick at the Coronation Park pecked Kotoko in a 1-1 stalemate.

The former Right to Right boy keeps advertising his gripping displays across the various venues on the local scene.

Daniel Opare – Standard Liege

Though still 21, the former Real Madrid B versatile full back’s international future is already looking bleak.

Daniel Opare is surprisingly left out despite consistent form in Belgium

Since excelling in the victory over Congo at the Baba Yara Stadium in June 2011, other players have surprisingly been preferred to Opare.

After recovering from injury, Opare sealed his place in the Standard Liege starting team and played all but one game of their championship play-offs.

Inkoom and Baba Rahman’s preference over the workaholic versatile full-back leaves more questions as to what he needs to do to merit a place in the team.

David Addy – Vitória Guimarães

In the build-up to the announcement of the squad, there is a sparkling reminiscence of Kwesi Appiah’s club activity policy.

Appiah on some instances had put it clear that club involvement and consistency would form the basis for his invitation.

Snubbed – David Addy has made a case for his inclusion

If that is anything to go by, then the former FC Porto man should walk straight into the squad ahead of Baba Rahman and Inkoom again.

Addy has helped Vitória to the final of the Portuguese FA Cup where they would battle Benfica for laurels.

Playing 22 out of Vitória’s 30 league games and reaching the Cup final is enough to enough him a call-up.

David Accam – Helsingborg IF

David Accam is on fire in Sweden

Accam has scored five times in his last ten games for Helsingborg and is the sixth top scorer in the Allsvenskan.

Accam was an unused sub in the 4-0 win over Sudan at the Baba Yara Stadium last month.

The injury crisis that rocked the squad dripped to the striking department as Abdul Majeed Waris telephoned Kwesi Appiah to inform him of his inavailability for the game with a knee injury.

Consistency is a valuable asset for a team and if Accam was included, there would have been no surprises.

Samuel Afum – Young Boys

Samuel Afum was also overlooked

Afum has been at the heart of Bernard Challandes for Young Boys scoring three times in his last five games in the Super League.

After spending close two seasons in Egypt without playing football, the former Hearts of Oak man is picking up his good old form and it would have been in place if Appiah had handed his a debut in Omdurman on June 7.

Afum’s magnificence in attack is a mixture of exciting pace, accurate shooting ability and addition of power and great sustainability upfront.

Bennard Kumordzi – Genk

Kumordzi was one of the most impressive Ghanaian players abroad

The 28-year-old is one of the few Ghanaian players with medals to show at the end of the season.

Kumordzi scored in the Belgium Cup final and steered Genk to triumphant moments as they defeated Cercle Brugge 2-0 to win the trophy and qualify for the second consecutive time to the Europa League.

The former Dijon lanky midfielder racked 25 Pro League appearances with 2 goals and also glittered on his Europa League defeat.

Kumordzi should not be made to face the end of his international career purely on the grounds that he had his chances and blew them – he is worth a place in the team.

Nana Akwasi Asare – FC Utrecht

Nana Asare’s exclusion leaves you surprised

Nana Asare is close to securing Europa League football for Utrecht next season as he has guided them to the play-offs final.

Nana Asare is a natural left-back but his gift allows him to do many greater things in the Eredivisie for Utrecht.

Starring in 33 games, the 26-year-old contributed 7 goals in all competitions to Utrecht’s season.

He has more than justified his place in the Ghana squad but for reasons why Kwesi Appiah and previous Ghana coaches decided to overlook him for so many times, nobody can really tell.

Liverpool want to sign Christian Atsu for three million pounds.

According to the UK newspaper The Mirror, Liverpool have made a £3 million bid for Porto winger Christian Atsu.

The Ghana international has a £10 million release clause in his contract by the Portuguese champions are ready to sell for a beat down price.

If Porto fail to sell him this summer, they risk losing him for nothing when his contract expires next year.

Atsu early this week announced he preferred a move to England after reports emerged he was close to signing for Benfica.

“Since I started playing football I have dreamt to play in the Premier League. I will be sad to leave Porto but if I leave I would want my future to be in England,” the 21-year-old said.

Atsu has been heavily linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur to reunite with his former boss Andre Villas-Boas, who spotted him at Porto.

He has made 16 appearances and scored one goal in Porto’s march to their eighth title in ten years.