Coach of the senior national team the Black Stars, Akwasi Appiah, yesterday named his provisional 26-man squad for the pre-tournament training camp in the UAE with 6 local based players. Three players
are expected to be dropped latest by 10th of January before the 23-man squad travels to South
Africa for the AFCON.
Appiah has handed Medeama hit-man and leading goal-king of the Glo Premier League, Yahaya Mohammed a call-up and surprising left-out Jordan Ayew for the competition.
Are the local based players going to make the cut ? question
on the lips of most Ghanaian's at the moment. One thing that is certain is that
3 are definitely going to make the final list, with all things being equal,
that is if the supposed 3 that won’t make the cut are going to be the local
based guys.
According to coach Appiah “All the
players I have selected, I have absolute confidence in them’’
“I have given a lot of players the opportunity but for now I
think these are the players I need to be successful at the Nations Cup’’ he
added.
These are the men that the entire nation is going to rally
their support behind to end the 30-years hoodoo. It has been 30-years since the
senior national team won the AFCON, the last time we lifted the trophy was in Libya 1982
under the guidance of coach C. K. Gyamfi. George Alhassan won
the golden boot with 4 goals, can coach Akwesi Appiah and Asamoah Gyan do same with the list below:
Goalkeepers:
Adam Kwarasey (Stromsgodset,
Norway), Fatau Dauda (AshantiGold, Ghana), Daniel Adjei (Liberty Professionals, Ghana)
Defenders:
John Paintsil (Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Israel), Harrison Afful (Esperance,
Tunisia), Richard Kissi Boateng (Berekum Chelsea, Ghana),
John Boye (Rennes, France), Jonathan Mensah (Evian, France), Isaac Vorsah (Red Bull Salzburg, Austria), Jerry Akaminko (Eskisehirspor, Turkey), Rashid Sumaila (Asante Kotoko, Ghana), Awal Mohammed (Maritzburg United, South
Africa).
Midfielders:
Andre Ayew (Marseille,
France), Christian Atsu (FC Porto, Portugal), Anthony Annan (Osasuna,
Spain), Derek Boateng (Dnipro, Ukraine), Solomon Asante (Berekum Chelsea,
Ghana), Emmanuel Agyemang Badu (Udinese, Italy), Kwadwo Asamoah (Juventus,
Italy), Albert Adomah (Bristol
City, England), Rabiu Mohammed (Evian, France), Mubarak Wakaso (Espanyol, Spain)
Forwards:
Asamoah Gyan (Al Ain, UAE), Emmanuel Clottey
(Esperance, Tunisia), Richmond Boakye Yiadom (Sassuolo, Italy) Yahaya
Mohammed(Amidaus Professionals)
Credit: ghanafa.org
