Beach Soccer AFCON qualifiers: Black Sharks in high spirit despite challenges in Ivory Coast

Players and officials of the national Beach Soccer team, Black Sharks, were refused access to a suitable training pitch for their first session in Abidjan.

The team was forced to conduct a one-hour training session at a public beach as the host officials were unavailable to offer the mandatory support.

Notwithstanding these challenges, the players were all smiles and relaxed on Thursday evening as they took a stroll outside the team hotel following an eventful previous 24 hours.

The team safely arrived in the Ivorian capital, Abidjan, late Wednesday night after the initial plan to fly to Abidjan was abandoned in favor of a road trip that lasted over 15 hours.

After starting their journey from Keta in the Volta region, the Black Sharks stopped over in Accra before proceeding through the Central and Western regions of Ghana on board an STC bus.

The Sharks finally made it to their team hotel in Macory, a suburb of Abidjan, where they have settled to rest, recover, and train ahead of the huge second-leg battle on Saturday.

The team, coached by Daniel Kotey, will hold their second training session on Friday evening.

Ghana lead 5-3 after the first leg in Keta, which witnessed the biggest crowd ever seen for any beach soccer game in Ghana.