{"id":605591,"date":"2019-04-06T11:23:29","date_gmt":"2019-04-06T11:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"<br><div>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">Sports News of Saturday,  6 April 2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>GHANAsoccernet.com <\/p>\n2019-04-06\n\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghana-mma.com\/2019\/03\/11"},"modified":"2019-04-06T11:23:29","modified_gmt":"2019-04-06T11:23:29","slug":"george-afriyie-urges-black-stars-to-stay-focus-ahead-of-2019-afcon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/06\/george-afriyie-urges-black-stars-to-stay-focus-ahead-of-2019-afcon\/","title":{"rendered":"George Afriyie urges Black Stars to stay focus ahead of 2019 AFCON"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">Sports News of Saturday,  6 April 2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>GHANAsoccernet.com <\/p>\n<p>2019-04-06<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanamma.com\/2019\/03\/11724645.295.jpg\" alt=\"George Afriyie Beard\" title=\"George Afriyie Beard\" width=\"295\" height=\"196\" \/><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>George Afriyie, GFA presidential hopeful<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\">Ghana Football Association presidential aspirant George Afriyie has called on the Black Stars to stay focused as they aim to end their 37-year Africa Cup of Nations title drought.<\/p>\n<p>The West Africa powerhouse are seeking to win their first title in 37 years, having won their last title in 1982.<\/p>\n<p>Kwesi Appiah&#8217;s side have come close to ending their drought at the last six tournaments, having reached the semi-finals, and even going as far as the final in 2010 and 2015.<\/p>\n<p>But the former Ghana FA vice president has insisted that the players must focus and work ahead of the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have come close three times in winning the trophy but we couldn&#8217;t,&#8221; he told Metro TV.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In 2010 and 2015, I was privileged to be at the tournament and the players did their best but it was unfortunate we couldn&#8217;t bring the trophy home.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In 2015, the players were determined to win the trophy and even in their training, you could see that the players eyeing the ultimate but luck was not on our side but for us to win this year&#8217;s tournament, the players must stay focus and work hard.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The respected football administrator also called on Kwesi Appiah to be mindful of his player selection.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Ivory Coast won the 2015 tournament without some of their big names and I think we can do same but the players must work hard and improve their performance,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Ghana have been pitched in Pot 1 with the draw expected to take place on April 12 in Cairo.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related_articles\" style=\"width: 100%;\">\n<div style=\"clear: both; font-size: 90%; background-color: #eeeaea; padding: 5px; margin-top: 10px;\">\n<table width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border:0; padding:0\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanamma.com\/2019\/03\/1551782796_787_96124592.jpg\" style=\"padding-right:2px;\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border:0; padding:0;width:100%; vertical-align:middle; font-size:11px;\">Courtesy of <b>GHANAsoccernet.com<\/b> &#8211; Ghana&#8217;s leading football news website. Click for more news.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Related Articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Comments:<\/strong><br \/>This article has 1 comment(s),  give your comment\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sports News of Saturday, 6 April 2019 Source: GHANAsoccernet.com 2019-04-06 George Afriyie, GFA presidential hopeful Ghana Football Association presidential aspirant George Afriyie has called on the Black Stars to stay focused as they aim to end their 37-year Africa Cup of Nations title drought. The West Africa powerhouse are seeking to win their first title [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":597558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-605591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>George Afriyie urges Black Stars to stay focus ahead of 2019 AFCON - 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\/2019\/04\/06\/george-afriyie-urges-black-stars-to-stay-focus-ahead-of-2019-afcon\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"George Afriyie urges Black Stars to stay focus ahead of 2019 AFCON - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Sports News of Saturday, 6 April 2019 Source: GHANAsoccernet.com 2019-04-06 George Afriyie, GFA presidential hopeful Ghana Football Association presidential aspirant George Afriyie has called on the Black Stars to stay focused as they aim to end their 37-year Africa Cup of Nations title drought. 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