Thursday, January 17, 2008

CAF CLEARS GYAN

BLACK Stars striker, Asamoah Gyan, is eligible to play for the team against Guinea on Sunday in the kick-off of the 2008 MTN Africa Cup of Nations. 
This follows a clearance from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) last Tuesday.
Asamoah was sent off against Brazil in Dortmund in the second round of the 2006 World Cup about 18 months ago, the last competitive match of the Stars, but an official of CAF said it had not received any notification from FIFA of a ban being served by the Udinese striker.
The Stars have not played a competitive match since the World Cup finals, and since they did not play in the Ghana 2008 qualifiers, it was unclear if any ban received during the last competitive match still stood.
However, an official of CAF, interviewed at the confederation’s temporary offices at the Local Organising Committee in Ghana in preparation for the competition, said it was yet to receive any notification of the said suspension.
“ So far as we are concerned, the said Ghanaian player is qualified to play for the team on Sunday. We are not aware that he is suspended,” he explained.
This solves any nagging question hanging over the player’s eligibility.
The Stars ace midfielder, Laryea Kingson, suffered a similar fate which ruled him out of the team’s participation in the 2006 World Cup.
After a collision with a Senegalese player, Kingson was red-carded and thus banned for three competitive matches, and with Ghana’s elimination from the 2006 Nations Cup, Kingston carried the ban into the World Cup.

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