New Stars Coach Begins Work Today

Ghana’s new coach, Mariano Jeronimo Barreto, moves straight into business today after discussions with Ghanaian officials to take up a two-year contract were expected to be concluded last night.

The Portuguese arrived in the country on Tuesday evening in the company of Foot Elite InterContact Marketing General Manager, Mr Lucidio Ribeiro, with high expectations to assume duty as the head coach of both the Black Stars and the Black Meteors.

According to a source at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Barreto landed with his personal belongings fully prepared to assume duty right away after the official signing of the two-year contract which mandates him to lead the Stars to the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The source, however, pointed out that the Portuguese was not disturbed by the recent controversy which surrounded his appointment.

Barreto will have an additional responsibility of preparing the Meteors through the remaining Olympic qualifiers towards next summer’s games in Athens, Greece. Although the Chairman of the Ghana Football Association, Mr Ben Koufie is in Tunis for today’s CAF elections, indications are that he had already prepared the grounds for Barreto’s contract to be sealed yesterday.

Ben Koufie left for Tunis early this week together with General Secretary, Mr Kofi Nsiah, leaving GFA Vice-Chairman, Mr Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah and the authorities at the Sports Ministry to finalise Barreto’s deal. Barreto is expected to start work with the Meteors who are due to reassemble to prepare for the upcoming Olympic qualifier against Algeria at home.