Mixed Results For Stars In Europa League

A night of mixed results for some of Ghana's internationals as the Europa League entered the third qualifying round stage. Four of Ghana's internationals helped their clubs make an impressive start in their Europa League third qualifying round ties on Thursday. Matthew Amoah, John Paintsil, Joe Tex Frimpong and Samuel Yeboah all saw their sides win their first matches in the third qualifying round.

But for Issah Ahmed and David Addy, Awudu Okocha and Dominic Adiyiah it was a night to forget as their clubs lost heavily. Striker Samuel Yeboah was on the score sheet as he helped Hapoel Tel Aviv to their 3-1 away victory over Gothenburg in Sweden. Paintsil played out for Fulham in their 3-0 victory over Lithuanian club FK Vetra in the first leg away. NAC Breda, featuring Matthew Amoah were 1-0 away winners over Polonia Warsaw. Amoah scored twice to get NAC Breda to the third qualifying stage.

Joe Tex Frimpong was a late substitute for Young Boys as the Swiss side beat Athletic Bilbao 1-0 at home. In Denmark, the campaign of Issah Ahmed and David Addy both players of Randers FC after having been through two qualifying rounds already appears to be over after losing 0-4 to Hamburg. Addy was handed a start at left back while Issah remained on the bench.

Samad Awudu Okocha came on in the second half but could not stop Maccabi Netanya from going down 1-4 to Galatasaray. There was also another crushing defeat for a Ghanaian international with Dominic Adiyiah’s side, Fredrikstad going down 1-6 to Lech. Adiyiah was an unused substitute.

Mr Samuel Ablakwa Okudzeto, Deputy Minister of Information, said on Thursday in Accra that more than 100,000 Senior High School (SHS) graduates idle at home annually, a trend that has to be reversed. "Indeed, Ghana faces a youth that is disengaged and lack the necessary skills, knowledge and disposition to participate in and carry out their civic duties," he added.