{"id":90101,"date":"2015-02-09T19:57:37","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T19:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=90101"},"modified":"2015-02-09T19:57:57","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T19:57:57","slug":"balotelli-proud-ghana-2015-afcon-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=90101","title":{"rendered":"Balotelli &#8216;proud&#8217; of Ghana after 2015 AFCON campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Black Stars 2015 AFCON run\u00a0and eventual heartbreaking loss in the final attracted a lot of sympathizers and admirers, including it seems, Italian striker Mario Balotelli.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-89880\" src=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Grant.jpg\" alt=\"Grant\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Liverpool striker, who was born to Ghanaian parents but chose to represent the Azzurri instead, took to Twitter and Instagram to congratulate the Black Stars for reaching the final but expressed his disappointment that his &#8216;original country&#8217; was unable to emerge victorious.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Proud of my original country.. Unlucky but you guys gave everything and deserve a win. But football\u2026 <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/9yyyqsmLRe\">http:\/\/t.co\/9yyyqsmLRe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mario Balotelli (@FinallyMario) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FinallyMario\/status\/564718223762145280\">February 9, 2015<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>His comments provoked mixed responses from fans; one suggested that the striker&#8217;s goal scoring prowess might be needed in the Stars line-up while another thought the players words were not appropriate.<\/p>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-90135\" src=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Capturebbgchcjh.jpg\" alt=\"Capturebbgchcjh\" width=\"614\" height=\"86\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-90136\" src=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Captureghikhv.jpg\" alt=\"Captureghikhv\" width=\"558\" height=\"88\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Black Stars were denied a fifth AFCON triumph on Sunday by the Ivory Coast, losing 9-8 on penalties after the game ended goalless. Ivorian Keeper Boubacar Barry scored the winning kick following his save from \u00a0Ghana\u2019s Razak Brimah.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_90129\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-90129\" style=\"width: 574px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-90129\" src=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/1423434443101_lc_galleryImage_Ivory_Coast_s_goalkeeper_1.jpg\" alt=\"Barry scores winning penalty for Ivory Coast\" width=\"574\" height=\"415\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-90129\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barry scores winning penalty for Ivory Coast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The win was the Ivorians second at the tournament and consigned the Black Stars to a fifth AFCON final loss in nine attempts. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>By: Edwin Kwakofi\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EdKwakofi\" data-show-count=\"false\">Follow @EdKwakofi<\/a><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Black Stars 2015 AFCON run\u00a0and eventual heartbreaking loss in the final attracted a lot of sympathizers and admirers, including it seems, Italian striker Mario Balotelli. The Liverpool striker, who was born to Ghanaian parents but chose to represent the Azzurri instead, took to Twitter and Instagram to congratulate the Black Stars for reaching the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[29,3],"class_list":["post-90101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-dr-mahamudu-bawumia","tag-ghana-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}