Ghana name 23-man squad to face AFCON qualifier against Sudan as Wakaso, Rahman, Afful and Boye return
The Black Stars of Ghana have named a 23-man squad to face 2021 AFCON qualifier double header against Sudan next month.
The qualifying round of Africa national team top flight tournament resumes November from coronavirus suspension back in May with interesting fixtures ahead of football fans.
Ghana who lead group C with 6 points will face North African side Sudan 12th day of November before the Stars travel for the second leg in Khartoum after five days of first leg clash.
Ghana boss C.K Akonnor has on Friday 30th October hit the media with a pull of strong squad ahead of Afcon round 3 clash against Sudan with Harrison Afful, Chelsea defender Baba Rahman, Metz star John Boye and China based Mubarak Wakaso returning to the Black Stars since Afcon in Egypt.
All four players were completely overlooked in Akonnor’s maiden call up for Mali and Qatar games with omissions going beyond performance reasons.
Columbus Crew SC defender Afful and Rahman sustained injury before pulling out from Ghana’s defeat in hands of and victory against Mali and Qatar respectively. Wakaso also failed to pass coronavirus protocols whiles reasons for Boye’s missed remain confidential to the Black Stars technical staff.
Akonnor’s latest list contains most of the players that staged against West African neighbors Mali and 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts early this month in Turkey.
Arsenal £45million summer signing Thomas Partey, Swansea City forward Andre Ayew, Crystal Palace ace Jordan Ayew, winger Jeffery Schlupp are included on Ghana’s list against Hubert Velud’s side whiles Leicester City defender Daniel Amartey is left out once again.
Meanwhile, Jamie Leweling who plays for Greuther Fürth in Bundesliga 2 has been handed Black Stars debut call up however Salisu Mohammad who completed a summer move from Real Valladolid to Southampton is missing.
There has been massive call for local players into Black Stars but Akonnor’s Friday list means only one, Razak Abelora of Ghana Premier League side Asante Kotoko, will be part of Ghana’s squad for next month’s national duties.
The Ghana Premier League 2020/2021 season will start next month after receiving a resumption green light from the government late last month and starting the new season will undoubtedly boost future call ups for local players.
The one before Akonnor’s today Friday’s squad, no single player in the local scene was handed a call up bursting into rampant criticisms from the Ghanaian local media.
The Ghana boss explained why local players were missing from in the squad against Mali and Qatar.
Ghana squad in details
Goalkeepers: Richard Ofori (Orlando Pirates FC), Razak Abalora (Asante Kotoko SC), Lawrence Ati-Zigi (St Gallen)
Defenders: Baba Abdul Rahman (Chelsea FC), Gideon Mensah (Vitoria de Guimaraes, Afful Harrison (Columbus Crew FC), Anang Benson (MSK Zilina), Djiku Alexander (Strasbourg FC), John Boye (FC Metz), Nicholas Opoku (Amiens FC), Joseph Aidoo (Celta Vigo)
Midfielders: Partey Thomas (Arsenal FC), Baba Idrissu (RCD Mallorca), Mubarak Wakaso (Jiangsu Suning FC), Emmanuel Lomotey (Amiens FC)
Forwards: Andre Ayew (Swansea City FC), Tariq Fosu (Brentford), Samuel Owusu (Al-Ahli Jeddah) Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace FC), Caleb Ekuban (Trabzonspor), Jamie Leweling (Greuther Furth), John Antwi (Pyramids FC), Jeffery Schlupp (Crystal Palace).
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