2019 Africa Cup of Nations: Ghana’s local based players were impressive but had to be sacrificed

The two local outfield players who made the Black Stars provisional 29 man squad for the training camp in Dubai were impressive despite failing to make the final 23-man squad for the tournament.

Finder Sports sources within the team, the technical team, especially coach Kwasi Appiah was really impressed with the output of Kotoko’s Abdul Fatawu and Hearts of Oak’s Mohammed Alhassan. However, with competition for places in the team at an all-time high, coach Appiah ultimately left them out of his final squad because he believes they will get other opportunities in the near future.

Fatawu has been good but he has become a casualty because the coach doesn’t want to sacrifice a senior player. Mohammed Alhassan was also very impressive in the game against Nambia but he will be sacrificed just like Fatawu. I can tell you that the local boys have been very impressive,” our source said before the official announcement of the squad.

This means, goalkeeper Felix Annan will be the only locally based player in Ghana’s set up for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations which begins next Friday in Egypt.

France-based striker Abdul Majeed Waris and Ebenezer Ofori (New York FC, USA) will not be on the plane to Egypt. Yaw Yeboah (Numancia, Spain), Mohammed Alhassan (Hearts of Oak, Ghana) have also missed out, alongside Abdul Fatawu (Asante Kotoko, Ghana).

Ghana has been paired in Group F alongside defending champions Cameroon, Benin and Guinea Bissau

The Black Stars will begin their campaign against Benin on June 25, 2019 at the Ismail Sports Stadium.