Asamoah Gyan
Asamoah Gyan has expressed his unhappiness with the quality of the turf at the Accra Sports Stadium only days ahead of Ghana’s opening 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Mauritius.
Avram Grant’s Black Stars are set to compete against the continental minnows on Sunday in front of their home fans in the Ghanaian capital, but Gyan is unhappy with what he perceives to be sub-par playing conditions.
Speaking after the national side’s 1-0 victory over Togo at the same venue, the Al-Ain frontman explained some of the problems faced by he and his teammates.
“The pitch was not good enough. It made even ball control very difficult,” he began, as reported by SuperSport. “But I believe our target was met and we’re happy to go into the main encounter against Mauritius in good spirit[s].”
The forward didn’t start the match, with Grant opting to give new arrival Waris Majeed a run-out, but he came on as a substitute to see out the contest with his compatriots. It was Gyan’s first game for the national side since his troubled contribution at the 2015 Afcon, when he started the final after missing the semi against Equatorial Guinea due to a pelvis injury.
The striker was absent for the recent friendlies against Senegal and Mali, but ought to be back in the starting XI for the Afcon qualifying bout against Mauritius.
Speaking to Joy FM [via SuperSport], Frank Boahene—who is responsible for pitch maintenance—expressed his confidence that the surface will be much-improved for the Black Stars’ upcoming qualifier.
"We only got funding to buy the fertilizer and other things on Friday," he began, "we took the water level and all only in the last few days. I admit the optimal thing would have been to start a few weeks ago.
"We are working on all such potential situations so that the ground can take an appreciable amount of water on the day,” he concluded.
While Grant will be delighted to welcome Gyan back to his starting line-up, he will be equally chuffed with the contribution of Bernard Mensah. The 20-year-old Vitoria Guimaraes man made his debut against Togo and responded to Grant’s faith with a 31st-minute effort; it was the goal that ultimately decided the contest and guaranteed victory for the Afcon ’15 silver-medalists.
