AFCON QUALIFIER: CAPTAIN ARM-BAND RETURNS TO JORDAN AYEW, AS OTTO ADDO NAME SQUAD FOR GHANA’S DOUBLE AFCON QUALIFIER

Black Stars coach, today named his squad for Ghana’s final double Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Angola and Niger respectively.

In naming his 25-man squad this afternoon at a press conference, Otto Addo surprisingly mention Jordan Ayew as the captain to lead Black Stars for the return fixture against Angola in Luanda and the home game to Niger in Accra. This is a reversal of his earlier decision to hand over the captaincy armband to Mohammed Kudus in the last Afcon qualifiers.

Meanwhile, some unfamiliar players who made the squad are FC Samartex left-back Isaac Afful who earned his second Black Stars call-up following his impressive performances in the ongoing Ghana Premier League. Asante Kotoko’s midfielder Emmanuel Antwi and Nations FC defender, Razak Simpson also earned their maiden call-ups.

Olympique Lyonaise forward Ernest Nuamah, LA Galaxy winger Joseph Paintsil and Italy based Atalanta midfielder Ibrahim Sulemana have all made a return into the team for the qualifiers.

The Black Stars will take on Angola on November 15, 2024, at the Estadio 11 de Novembro in Luanda and Niger on November 18, 2024 at the Accra Sports Stadium in the final round of games for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Ghana’s chances of qualifying to the next Afcon looks very slim as Black Stars can only qualify if Sudan lose one of their two matches and Ghana winning both games.

Here is the full list of players called:

Goalkeepers;
Lawrence Ati-Zigi
Jojo Wollacott
Abdul Manaf Nurudeen

Defenders;
Tariq Lamptey
Alidu Seidu
Nathaniel Adjei
Jonas Adjetey
Alexander Djiku
Gideon Mensah
Isaac Afful
Jerome Opoku
Razak Simpson

Midfielders;
Elisha Owusu
Abu Francis
Mohammed Kudus
Ibrahim Sulemana
Michael Baidoo
Emmanuel Antwi

Attackers;
Ernest Nuamah
Jordan Ayew (C)
Joseph Paintsil
Antoine Semenyo
Inaki Williams
Ibrahim Osman
Fatawu Issahaku

Kyei Manu

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