The weekend in a few words...plus UCL previews

The news is that Kotoko have crashed out of Africa. Goodness gracious. After taking a 3-1 lead here two weeks ago, they go and concede two unreplied away goals. Nutters.

Meanwhile, the English premier league turned out two late goals to secure victory: one each by United and 'Pool. But still i wait to see the Macheda goal for meself. But ahead of this week, the prepartions for the Ghana 2009 Hockey Nations Cup continue as they have last week and some other events may come up. All the best in all the week!

Speaking of the Hockey nations Cup, the (LOC) of the Africa Hockey Federation (AfHF) Cup of Nations, to be staged in Ghana, on Friday inaugurated seven sub-committees to organize a successful organization of the championship. They held it at the former CAN 2008 offices at Ringway. Rex Danquah was in the thick of things as usual. "The man with the thousand duties" as Yaw Ampofo-Ankrah likes to describe him.

The seven sub-committees will deal with various aspects of the organization and hosting of the championship. Now these are their long-sounding names: Accommodation & Transportation; Protocol, Arrivals, Departures & Ceremonies; Medical & Doping; Security, Volunteers & Accreditation; Technical & Fields; Marketing & Media Relations and Team Relations &
Matches Coordination.

Now the whole gamut is chaired by Mr Abuga Pele the former Ranking Member on Youth and Sports. My man Yaw Ampofo-Ankrah is also on the bill. We hope they deliver for Ghana's sakes!

In any case we see the start of the next stage of the champions league this week. Defending champions Manchester United will look to shrug off their recent slump and avenge one of their most heartbreaking Champions League losses of all time when they face 2003-2004 champions Porto. Revenge will be another subplot as Villarreal will clash with Arsenal in a rematch of the 2005-2006 Semi-Finals. Additionally, Liverpool and Chelsea have battled each other so many times in the Champions League that both sides have a reason to be vengeful towards the other.

Revenge will also be a factor when Bayern Munich will take on Barcelona, even though the two traditional powerhouses haven’t met in the Champions League since the 1998-1999 season, when Bayern defeated Barcelona twice in the group stages. Those losses helped knock the Catalans out of the competition, which was especially painful since it cost them a chance of playing in the Final, which was held at the Nou Camp.