Stars return home

There are feverish preparations to welcome Ghana’s national football team to Kumasi for next week’s 2015 World Cup qualifier against Comoros Islands after a one-year absence from the Garden City.

The Black Stars will take on the Southern Africans in the second-leg of the qualifier on Tuesday, 17 November at the Baba Yara Stadium.

However, the state of the Kumasi is pitch is a source of worry for many and the National Sports Authority are deploying pitch experts to whip it into shape before next Tuesday’s game.

It will be the first time the Ghana national team are returning to Kumasi since they were booed by fans in Ghana’s second biggest city.

The Black Stars fell out with fans in Kumasi after they turned against the team in their 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Uganda in September last year.

A section of the supporters supported the Cranes as they Black Stars were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw at their stadium regarded as their fortress.

After playing at the Tamale Sports Stadium and the Accra Sports Stadium the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has decided to return to Kumasi.

“Coach Avram Grant’s side will then host the return leg at the Baba Yara Stadium November 17,” a statement on the Ghana Football Association website said on Wednesday.

A virulent campaign against the Black Stars took hold with a section of the media in Kumasi openly calling for a boycott of the team following Ghana’s shambolic showing at the 2014 World Cup.

The issue of their boycott embarked on by the players after the delay of their appearance fees was used against the team.

But with the cities of Accra and Tamale hosting the team to emphatic victories and subsequent excellent showing at the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea there is a huge appetite for the Black Stars to return to Kumasi.