Black Stars Battle Argentina

Milovan Rajevac

The local Black Stars will today battle their Argentine counterparts who are coached by legend, Diego Armando Maradona in an international friendly match in Cordoba.

The match forms part of preparatory games, especially for Maradona who wants to use the game to discover some new players to revive Argentina's chances of qualifying for next year's world cup in South Africa.

Argentina are currently fifth on the group standings in South America, where the first five countries automatically qualify; with the sixth placed country required to play against an Oceania runner-up.

Coach side includes some players who won silver at the maiden CHAN competition early this year in Cote d'Ivoire.

The Local Black Stars are bent on staging a surprise against the more experienced Argentine squad, which has players like Ariel Ortega and Martin Palermo.

With Ghana already through to next year's World Cup, Coach Rajevac might be forced to use some of the local players in next month's world cup qualifier against Benin in Cotonou.

Team Goalkeepers:
Phelimon McCarthy (Hearts of Oak) Stephen Ahorlu (Heart of Lions)

Defenders:
Bright Allotey (Great Olympics) Karimu Alhassan (Hearts of Oak) Lee Addy (Chelsea) Ofosu Appiah (Asante Kotoko) Daniel Yeboah (Heart of Lions)

Midfielders:
Jordan Opoku and Francis Cofie (Asante Kotoko) Edmund Owusu-Ansah, Abraham Annan and Emmanuel Ansong (Heart of Lions) Frank Boateng (Sporting Mirren)

Strikers:
Samed Oppong (Asante Kotoko) Mahatma Otoo (Sporting Mirren) Kofi Nti Boakye (Heart of Lions) Obed Owusu (All Blacks) Joshua Otto (Hearts of Oak)

By Charles Nixon Yeboah