Accra Hearts of Oak midfielder, Thomas Abbey, believes the Black Stars B team is mentally, physically and spiritually ready to settle the scores with their Burkinabe counterparts in the second leg of their 2018 Championship of African Nations (CHAN) qualifier to be staged at the Baba Yara Stadium on Sunday.

Abbey noted that the Ghanaian side had learnt some useful lessons from the mistakes they committed in the first leg in Ouagadougou which ended in a 2-2 stalemate last Saturday and were in no mood to allow the Burkinabe to cause an upset in Kumasi. For the gifted Star, missing the CHAN would prove very costly to the players’ development.

Liverpool will take a one-goal advantage back to Anfield for the second leg of their Champions League play-off tie with Hoffenheim after Trent Alexander-Arnold's free-kick and an own goal earned them a hard-fought victory in Germany.

Rookie full-back Alexander-Arnold demonstrated a cutting edge lacking in some of his more experienced team-mates with an expertly taken set-piece that found the bottom corner of the home net in the 35th minute to give him his first goal for the club.

Recent events are enough signals for us to be careful of the minnows we underrated many years ago. Knowing that football is our passion, many countries pay a lot of attention when they are to play Ghana at international levels, it would, therefore, be a sad spectacle to see ourselves falling flat as we move forward.

We continuously bemoaned our fate for missing the World Cup for over 36 years after FIFA gave approval for Africa's single slot from its ninth edition in 1970. We, however, had the loudest applause when we finally qualified for the 2006 tourney held in Germany.

It will be recalled that at the end of the tournament, it was Italy which won the ultimate after beating France 5-3 on penalties.  Even though we were nowhere near the top four, the fact that we finished as one of the final 16 gave us a feeling that better days were ahead as we topped the other four African participants that year.

The sporting industry has once again been hit with the movements of football players from one club to another, involving huge sums of money. At the centre of these movements are the big clubs who are trying to consolidate their positions by splashing big money to bait star players ahead of the new football season which begins this month.

The big money spending clubs are mainly in the English, Spanish, German, Italian and French leagues where some of the clubs have even accused their fellow clubs of using unfair practices to entice and sign their players.

Notable among the latest transfers is the 200 million pounds spent by French club Paris Saint-Germain for the Brazilian star, Neymar Jr, who used to ply his trade for Barcelona. The money on Neymar Jr has thus become the most expensive transfer in world football history. He will earn £782,000 a week.

The previous record was held by Paul Pogba who was transferred from Juventus to Manchester United fo

The Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Mr Robert Sarfo Mensah, has tipped the Black Starlets to win the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India in October.

He noted that having come into close contact with the team during the Under-17 African Championship in Gabon, he was optimistic that the team is destined for success in any major championship.

Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, Juventus), Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Real Madrid) have been named the three nominees for the 2016/17 UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award.

The award will be presented at the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on Thursday 24 August.

A contingent of five British semi-professional boxers led by super-featherweight brawler John "Hitman" Hicks has vowed to cause a massive upset on Saturday when they face their experienced Ghanaian opponents on Saturday at the Bukom Boxing Arena.

The tough-talking contingent which also includes middleweight Keiran "Lights Out" Lienster, Anthony (Tony Macaroni) Ayinde, Felix Okine and Oliver Duffy arrived in Accra on Saturday to grace the fourth edition of Azumah Nelson's Fight Night and were unanimous in their convictions that they would punch above their semi-professional tag when they face-off against their Ghanaian opponents.

American basketball star, David West, says he is delighted with the opportunity to mentor the next generation of Ghanaian athletes at the All Africa Access basketball clinic which takes place today at the University of Ghana court at 9 a.m.

West, speaking at a press conference yesterday to herald today’s clinic said all professional athletes had the responsibility to use their stardom to educate young people to be multi-dimensional in the areas of academics and sports.

Daniel Anum Quartey, Ghana's number three seed yesterday beat David Bona 6-2, 6-3 in the men's singles of the second edition of the John Atta Mills Tennis Open tournament which got underway at the tennis arena of the Accra sports Stadium.

Quartey, who lost the title to Jeff Bagerbaseh last year, began the match on a good note winning the first three games of the first set, while his opponent struggled to find answers to his (Quartey's) heavy strokes.

Barnsley boss Paul Heckingbottom says Huddersfield Town target Andy Yiadom will not be considered for selection while he is "in limbo".

The 25-year-old Ghana defender, who arrived from League Two side Barnet in May 2016, was left out of last Saturday's home defeat by Ipswich having started their two previous games.

Coach James Kwasi Appiah has commended the Black Stars B for their gallant performance against Burkina Faso last Saturday, promising to seal qualifiication to the Total African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Kenya on Sunday.

The Stars B drew 2-2 with Burkina Faso after taking the lead twice, giving them the edge in Sunday’s return leg at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi.

Kumasi Asante Kotoko will play host to Division One League side, NEA Salamina, in their outstanding MTN FA Cup quarter-final match at the Baba Yara Stadium tomorrow at 3 p.m.

The match was postponed as a result of Kotoko’s recent motor accident which rendered most of their players unfit to play the game a couple of weeks ago.

University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa, will be hosting the 22nd Ghana Universities Sports Association (GUSA) inter-university cross-country competition in November, 2017.

The cross-country competition is one of the flagship programmes of GUSA. In this regard, a seven-member Local Organising Committee (LOC), chaired by Assoc. Prof Michael Affam, has been inaugurated to see to the planning and successful hosting of the event.

Barnsley boss Paul Heckingbottom says Huddersfield Town target Andy Yiadom will not be considered for selection while he is "in limbo".

Cristiano Ronaldo has been suspended for five games after he was sent off in Real Madrid's 3-1 win against Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup first leg on Sunday.

He was given a one-match ban for being shown two yellow cards and a further four for pushing the referee in the back after he had been sent off.