The dust surrounding the composition of the Black Stars’ technical crew to guide the team in the World Cup play-off with Nigeria apprears to have now been settled.

A member of the newly formed Black Stars management committee, Karim Gruzah has confirmed that government has given its approval to the newly constituted technical team. He is also the president of King Faisal Football Club.

After the crash of the team at the Africa Cup of Nations, their Serbian coach, Milovan Rajevac  was sacked and there were propblems in the choice of a successor.

Now, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has tasked the Borussia Dortmund talent coach, Otto Addo to lead a new technical team which includes compatriots George Boateng and Mas-Ud Didi Dramani as assistants, while Irish-Ghanaian coach, Chris Hughton, plays the role of technical advisor for two-leg playoff.

There were talks that the government wanted Irishman of Ghanaian descent Chris Hughton as the Black Stars coach whiles the GFA wanted Otto Addo but at long last it appears a truce was reached as all two persons have seemingly been fitted into one team.

The King Faisal president, in an interview confirmed the Ghana FA and the Sports Ministry have been in touch and the appointment has been formalized.

“According to the Ghana FA president, Kurt Okraku the Ministry has approved the appointment”, Grunsah told Happy FM.

Ghana will host Nigeria at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium on March 25 in the first leg before traveling to Abuja for the second leg on March 29.

The ever presence of the Nigeria’s women’s team at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations was on Wednesday evening confirmed following the Super Falcon’s 1-0 away win over Cote d’Ivoire.

This is a follow up to an earlier 2-0 win in Abuja and thus sees the Super Falcons to the final championship in Morocco by a 3-0 aggregate.

The Super Falcons have never missed any edition and are the cup holders having won the last edition in Ghana in 2018. The 2020 edition was cancelled on account of the Coronavirus pandemic.

In addition, the Nigerians are record winners, having won nine of the 11 editions, losing only in 2008 and 2012 when Equatorial Guinea won. Even then, the Super Falcons made podium appearance in the 2008 edition,  and fourth position in 2012.

The Wednesday win over Cote d’Ivoire was a sort of revenge as the Ivorian ladies were responsible for Super Falcons not qualifying for the football event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

On Wednesday, the Ivorians threw everything into the return leg encounter at the Stade Robert Champroux but met a steely Nigerian defence and an inspired goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie who would not give an inch.

The game flowed back and forth for large swathes of the first half. Coach Randy Waldrum made two changes to the starting line-up from the first leg, bringing in midfielder Regina Otu and forward Francisca Ordega.

The lively Ordega thought she had given Nigeria the lead halfway into the first period, but the Nigerien referee ruled it out.

In the 34^th minute, Nigerien referee Zouwaira Souley awarded a penalty to the homers after judging that Ashleigh Plumptre had tripped an Ivorian striker in the Nigerian area. Goalkeeper Nnadozie saved the shot, and the contact from the same player off the rebound went into side-netting.

The Super Falcons dug their feet into the ground in the second half, refusing to give the Lady Elephants any leeway. Plumptre, Captain Onome Ebi, Osinachi Ohale and Michelle Alozie all held their ground as the Elephants increased their onslaughts.

A minute to the end, Esther Okoronkwo, winning only her second cap for Nigeria, scored the back-breaker that confirmed a 3-0 aggregate win for the Super Falcons.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin speaks during a news conference in Minsk, Belarus September 19, 2019. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko/File Photo

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has called an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee for Friday, Europe’s soccer governing body said on Thursday following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

This season’s Champions League final is to be held in St Petersburg in May and the EU Parliament had asked UEFA to change the venue and to stop considering Russian cities for international football competitions

Sebastian Vettel says the Russian Grand Prix should be cancelled – and he will not be there if the race goes ahead.

Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday morning on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is closely associated with his country’s F1 race.

Four-time champion Vettel said: “I should not go, I will not go. It is wrong to race in the country.

“I am sorry for the innocent people who are being killed for stupid reasons.”

Vettel said Russia had “a very strange and mad leadership”.

He added that he was “shocked” by events in Ukraine, and that while “we will see [what happens] going forward, my decision [on whether to race in Russia] is already made”.

Reigning champion Max Verstappen added: “When a country is at war, it is not right to race there.”

And two-time champion Fernando Alonso said: “It will be an F1 decision. As drivers, we have our decision and I am sure it is the same as everyone but we don’t have the power to decide.

“We can take our own decision but F1 will do the best.”

The Russian Grand Prix is scheduled to take place in Sochi on 25 September.

The team principals are to have a meeting with F1 at pre-season testing in Spain on Thursday to discuss the Russia situation.

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said: “It is an awful situation, it’s very sad. At the moment, all we can do is wait and see and hope for the best.

“The race is in September, and my wish is everything will stop very soon. F1 is trying to manage the situation and we will have meeting tonight to try to understand it better. We can only try to have a deep discussion and try to understand the situation for the future.”

F1 said in a statement said that it was “closely watching the very fluid developments and at this time has no further comment on the race”.

It added: “We will continue to monitor the situation very closely.”

The page selling tickets for the event has disappeared from the official F1 website, and one promoting the Turkish Grand Prix has appeared.

This has led to speculation that the race will be cancelled and replaced by one at Turkey’s Istanbul Park.

But F1 said this was a development issue with the website and “nothing deliberate”.

The US-based Haas team has significant Russian financial backing through its driver Nikita Mazepin.

A spokesman said: “Presently there is no knock-on impact”, adding: “We are obviously monitoring the situation and will continue to do so.”

With the next World Cup  in Qatar just nine months away, the immediate past hosts, Russia has triggered what could be the World War III as the world woke up Thursday morning to the sound of gun shots  and bombing of Ukraine.

Even though no official statement has come from FIFA, the conflict has undoubtedly scuppered two World Cup qualifiying play-off matches.

One involves  Russia who this Thursday are supposed to host Poland in Moscow, the same day that Russia has carried out the invasion of Ukraine.

Poland incidentally is one of the Eastern European countries that share border with the invaded Ukraine. It is almost unthinkable they will risk travelling to Russia to fulfil the World Cup play-off fixture.

The other fixture endangered is the one involving the Russia-invaded Ukraine and Scotland in Glasgow. A World Cup qualifier will command the least of attention for a country at war. Frightened Ukrainians took to subway stations on Thursday as air raid sirens rang out across the country’s main cities following Russia’s launch of its feared military attack.

According to Independent, a UK newspaper, Ukraine claimed it had shot down five Russian warplanes and a helicopter following Vladimir Putin’s invasion. The Russian aircraft were brought down over the eastern Luhansk region, Kiev said

But Russia rubbished the claims. The Russian defence ministry denied the claim, saying it had taken Ukrainian bases “out of action” and incapacitated the country’s air defences within hours.

Such claim sound justified considering the comparative military strength of both countries as could be gleaned from the illustration below.