{"id":607260,"date":"2019-04-12T11:04:36","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T11:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"<br><div>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">Sports News of Friday, 12 April 2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>Goal.com <\/p>\n2019-04-12\n\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghana-mma.com\/2019\/04\/31756866.295.j"},"modified":"2019-04-12T11:04:36","modified_gmt":"2019-04-12T11:04:36","slug":"abukari-damba-picks-ideal-group-for-black-stars-ahead-of-afcon-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/12\/abukari-damba-picks-ideal-group-for-black-stars-ahead-of-afcon-draw\/","title":{"rendered":"Abukari Damba picks ideal group for Black Stars ahead of AFCON draw"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">Sports News of Friday, 12 April 2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>Goal.com <\/p>\n<p>2019-04-12<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/31756866.295.jpg\" alt=\"Abukari Damba2\" title=\"Abukari Damba2\" width=\"295\" height=\"223\" \/><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Former Ghana goalkeeper Abukari Damba<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\">Former Ghana goalkeeper and coach Abukari Damba wants the Black Stars to be pitted against &#8216;not-too-strong&#8217; opponents in the final draw for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations. <\/p>\n<p>The Black Stars are one of 24 teams waiting to learn their fate in Friday\u2019s draw for the first round of the June 21-July 19 tournament holding in Egypt.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Ghana were moved to Pot 2 as against the anticipated Pot 1, which would have seen Kwesi Appiah&#8217;s outfit avoid some heavyweights in the group stage. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Afcon is the finest tournament on the continent and as the draw gets closer, there are a lot of expectations,&#8221; Damba, a member of Ghana&#8217;s squad at the 1992 Afcon, told Goal. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are hungry for the trophy but my only disappointment is that Ghana is not among the top seeds due to the use of the Fifa rankings. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But we are still hopeful that we will be put in a group that favours us, even though we must be prepared for anything.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Damba threw more light on his expectations. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I will want us to have a draw of not-too-strong countries but the game in Africa has evolved now, and there are no minnows in football. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s just about your own qualities and how you are able to exploit the weakness of your opponents. So I don&#8217;t really mind who we face, but not the host nation &#8211; Egypt.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The former shot-stopper also made his picks of ideal opponents for the Black Stars from each of the pots. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In Pot 1, we have fared so well against [defending champions] Cameroon in the past and we more or less play the same style, as compared to playing a North African country. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In Pot 3, I would not mind who we face. But if I am pushed, I&#8217;ll pick Kenya. They are people that I&#8217;ll love us to meet and whip them properly so they understand their level [on the back of the troubles caused the Black Stars during the qualifying series].<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In the last pot, I will love to see us meet Burundi because during my playing days, we met them in a World Cup qualifier away and they beat us 1-0. I will love the Black Stars to avenge that defeat.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ghana, four-time winners of the Afcon, last won the competition in 1982.<\/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\/53372278.jpg\" style=\"padding-right:2px;\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border:0; padding:0;width:100%; vertical-align:middle; font-size:11px;\">Courtesy of Goal.com &#8211; the world&#8217;s largest football website.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Related Articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Comments:<\/strong><br \/>This article has no comments yet, be the first to 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 Friday, 12 April 2019 Source: Goal.com 2019-04-12 Former Ghana goalkeeper Abukari Damba Former Ghana goalkeeper and coach Abukari Damba wants the Black Stars to be pitted against &#8216;not-too-strong&#8217; opponents in the final draw for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations. The Black Stars are one of 24 teams waiting to learn their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":607261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-607260","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>Abukari Damba picks ideal group for Black Stars ahead of AFCON draw - 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\/12\/abukari-damba-picks-ideal-group-for-black-stars-ahead-of-afcon-draw\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Abukari Damba picks ideal group for Black Stars ahead of AFCON draw - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Sports News of Friday, 12 April 2019 Source: Goal.com 2019-04-12 Former Ghana goalkeeper Abukari Damba Former Ghana goalkeeper and coach Abukari Damba wants the Black Stars to be pitted against &#8216;not-too-strong&#8217; opponents in the final draw for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations. 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