[ad_1]
The Black Stars boss has shed more light on his decision to bring the three players back to the national team after a period of absence.
Ghana coach CK Akonnor reveals that he has appealed to FC Metz central defender John Boye for his international experience.
The 34-year-old center-back was included among 23 players for next month’s 2022 Africa Cup of Nations double qualifying game against Sudan.
He has been called up for international duty for the first time since playing for the Black Stars at the Afcon 2019 tournament in Egypt, where Ghana exited the tournament in the knockout stage. German U-20 winger Jamie Leweling has also been called up.
“John Boye is an old guy again; all this is due to the fact that we want immediate solutions and therefore we need to deal with experience and with those who have been in that environment before, ”Akonnor explained, according to the website of the Football Association of Ghana (GFA).
“They have the experience, they have been on the field before and they know what it takes to play qualifying, so I thought it wise to bring in someone who is doing well in Europe.
“People have talked about him and I think he deserves that opportunity and that is why he is here to support the team.”
Like Boye, Chelsea left-back Abdul Rahman Baba has been called up for the first time since he played in the Afcon tournament. Interestingly, he has been frozen from the Blues’ first team to the second team.
“Baba Rahman was once a regular player here; Due to an injury, they took him out, ”revealed Akonnor.
“Now he’s back, he’s in shape, he’s playing very well with his team. Unfortunately, he has not had the opportunity to play in the first team. But he has had a couple of friendly matches since August, September and even recently on October 24, which he played against Liverpool’s second team.
“And these games, he has played 90 minutes, some are 90 minutes, many are 90 minutes and of course 70 minutes.
“So we’ve had a lot of consideration, seeing the fact that we have a little bit of weakness within that area, the full backs, so I thought it was necessary to bring him in to compete with Gideon on that side.”
There were more surprises in Akonnor’s last call-up, as Columbus Crew right-back Harrison Afull has also been called up for national service. He last played for the Black Stars against Ethiopia in 2018.
“For me, I’m looking for immediate solutions and if you want to do that, you don’t want to play, you want to get straight to the point, and therefore the immediate solutions are those guys,” Akonnor said of US based fullback.
“Again, on the right side, recently, this young gentleman, Benson, who did very well.
“But he needs support, he needs the old people to be around, to learn from them and so I thought it would be wise to bring in no one but Harrison Afful, to back him up and of course support him and that’s why Harrison It is also there. “
Ghana will host Uganda for the first of the doubles at Cape Coast on November 12.
