{"id":18860,"date":"2011-12-21T20:23:39","date_gmt":"2011-12-21T20:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/asamoah-sure-of-final-afcon-place\/"},"modified":"2011-12-21T20:23:39","modified_gmt":"2011-12-21T20:23:39","slug":"asamoah-sure-of-final-afcon-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/21\/asamoah-sure-of-final-afcon-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Asamoah sure of final AFCON place"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Derek Asamoah plays in the Korean top-flight<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Ghana striker Derek Asamoah is optimistic of breaking into the final 23-man squad for the 2012 African Cup of Nations after impressive performances in South Korea.<\/p>\n

The Pohang Steelers player was picked ahead of Quincy Owusu-Abeyie in the preliminary 25-man squad after impressing under the Serb in an international friendly against Gabon in Paris last month.<\/p>\n

He poked from close range to score the decisive goal against the Nations Cup co-hosts in a performance that ended him a place in the provisional squad.<\/p>\n

The Black Stars will begin camping for the biannual showpiece in South African from 7 January before the number is pruned to 23.<\/p>\n

It is widely believed local hitman Emmanuel Baffour, German-born Charles Takyi or France-based John Boye could be casualties.<\/p>\n

But the 24-year-old wants to fight his way into the final squad for the tournament.<\/p>\n

He told MTNFootball.com: “It\u2019s a dream to be in the final 25-man squad. But I remain hopeful I can make the grade.<\/p>\n

“Every player will want to fight to be in the team because we’re ready to be part of history.<\/p>\n

“It is the greatest honour to wear the national team jersey and that\u2019s what I believe all the players will be fighting for.”<\/p>\n

Asamoah was voted the Most Valuable Player in the K-League last season after scoring 11 goals in 32 matches with several assists as a winger.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Derek Asamoah plays in the Korean top-flight Ghana striker Derek Asamoah is optimistic of breaking into the final 23-man squad for the 2012 African Cup of Nations after impressive performances in South Korea. The Pohang Steelers player was picked ahead of Quincy Owusu-Abeyie in the preliminary 25-man squad after impressing under the Serb in an international friendly against Gabon in Paris last month<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nAsamoah sure of final AFCON place - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/21\/asamoah-sure-of-final-afcon-place\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Asamoah sure of final AFCON place - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Derek Asamoah plays in the Korean top-flight Ghana striker Derek Asamoah is optimistic of breaking into the final 23-man squad for the 2012 African Cup of Nations after impressive performances in South Korea. 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