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Pre-Match Presser: every word from Coach Otto Addo

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Ghana Coach Otto Addo took his seat in the press conference room at Stade du 26-Mars in Bamako to handle his pre-match media duties before our 2026 FIFA World Cup Group I qualifier against Mali on Thursday.
With the Group I ticket up for grabs, Otto Addo revealed his feelings going into the game, as well as discusses how his team aims for the points against one of the best teams on the African continent and the quality of the Black Stars.
On his mood going into the game in Mali
I am happy to be here. It’s a very important match for us. We are one point behind Mali in the Group and we have to win, this will be the best to guarantee our chances to qualify for the World Cup. But we know it’s going to be very, very tough. Mali has a very, very strong team. They showed recently in their games against Nigeria and Cote D’Ivoire how good they are.
On quality of Mali
They have a lot of young talents in their team and in the FIFA Rankings; they are above us so Mali is a great team. It’s difficult for us to beat them but we have to try. They are one point above us, we have a good team as well but in the FIFA rankings they are above us so these show how good and competitive they are. They showed in the last game against Nigeria how good they are and also in the AFCON when they played against Ivory Coast they were very, very unlucky. So for us, they are a very, very strong team but we have the possibility to still beat them. We also have a strong team and it’s going to be an equal measure
On game plan
It’s difficult to say. Surely we have a plan as regards how we want to play. We have observed them well. Almost all the players’ play in the Ligue 1, they are very, very strong. We have our ideas but surely I can’t tell you what we are going to do to win this match.
On readiness for Mali
Surely I think we are ready for the game. I know it’s always a short time for the preparations because players are coming from long seasons. So we had one good week. I am very, very satisfied on how they understood me on how we want to play. Like I said it’s going to be difficult.
On comparison between this game and the one against Nigeria in 2022
I compare this match a little bit to when I took over and we played against Nigeria. We had two matches then and we needed to qualify. This is going to be a tough match away in Mali, a country that have produced really, really good players like Haidara and Doumbia and so on. We know it’s going to be tough but we also have the quality to compete against them. Although we didn’t have a good AFCON, I think they are 20 places or so above us in the FIFA Ranking but I think we have the players to compete against them to get the three points out of Mali.
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Pragyia rider gets 3 months prison term for biting Police Assistant

A 24-year-old tricycle (Pragyia) rider, has been jailed three months by the Nkawie Circuit Court in the Atwima Nwabiagya South Municipality of the Ashanti Region for biting a Community Police Assistant (CPA) at Nkawie.
Abdul Aziz pleaded guilty to the charge of negligently causing harm and was convicted on his own plea.
Police Inspector Kwaku Frimpong, prosecuting told the court presided by Mr Robert Addo that, complainants in the case were officers from the Nkawie Divisional Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service.
He said on September 3, at about 8:40am, the complainants led by Chief Inspector Abedi Larbi, were on their official patrol duty to ensure safety at Nkawie township and met the convict, who was in-charge of a Pragya tricycle with registration number M-25-A-3722.
He explained that, after a careful inspection, it was detected that the convict was without licence and other required documents, so Alhassan Seidu, the CPA, was instructed to lead him to the office for the next action.
On their way to the office, the convict took a different direction, so the CPA directed him to take the right route to the police station, but he disobeyed and attacked the CPA, resulting in a struggle between them.
In the process the convict bit the CPA on the chest, so he shouted for help and some nearby youth rushed to the scene and helped him to arrest the convict.
In his caution statement, he admitted the offence and after further investigations he was charged and brought before the court. –GNA
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Place all 54,985 affected BECE candidates in schools and publish final outcome – NPP urges govt

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has urged the government to place all 54,985 candidates affected by the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) placement exercise in schools and publish the final outcome.
The party says the government must ensure that the affected candidates secure actual school places rather than merely being allowed to access the self-placement portal.
In a statement signed by the Chairman of the NPP Policy Co-ordination Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the party expressed concern about the situation facing the candidates.
The NPP said the government had announced that 53,887 of the affected candidates could use the self-placement system after initially being told that they had not qualified for secondary school.
It, however, argued that access to the portal did not guarantee that candidates would secure their preferred schools or programmes.
“Ghanaian parents and candidates will judge the resolution of the challenge by one thing only: how many of the original 54,985 are sitting in a classroom, not how many were allowed to open a website,” the statement noted.
The party said the government’s own figures showed that the country had 859,828 declared vacancies for 623,072 BECE candidates.
It explained that the main challenge was the concentration of demand in a small number of highly subscribed schools.
The NPP noted that 313,283 candidates selected Category A schools as their first choice, while those schools had 76,417 declared vacancies.
It therefore called on the government to explore ways to improve schools with available spaces, including providing teachers, laboratories and better programmes.
The party urged the government to use the 85 private schools participating in the Free SHS programme to absorb candidates who remained without placements.
The NPP further called for clarification of the rule and pass mark used for this year’s placement exercise, saying parents were entitled to know the standard before their children sat the examination.
It urged the government to take urgent action to ensure that the affected candidates were not left behind in the transition to secondary education.
By: Jacob Aggrey





