Chris Hughton confident Black Stars will be ready for AFCON 2023 in Ivory Coast

Ghana coach Chris Hughton is confident the Black Stars will be ready for the upcoming 2023 Africa Cup of Nations tournament to be staged in Ivory Coast.

The 34th edition of AFCON is expected to take place from January 13 until February 11, 2024, with Ghana opening their account on January 14 against Cape Verde.

The West African powerhouse were drawn in Group B against record AFCON holders, Egypt, Cape Verde and Mozambique during the draw last week.

Speaking ahead of USA clash, the former Premier League manager expressed his side will be ready before the commencement of the continental showpiece.

“I am quite sure that we will be ready. But again I have to speak about balances because we have two top friendlies here against two very, very good team and I will give you an example. If I am talking about the squads that we have had, then probably some of the names that have been regular in the squad, then probably some of the names that are regulars in the squad we have six players missing and that can be the case for the next squad or the next squad after that so the idea, one is of course to get as much consistency as you can but in the circumstance where you potentially might be missing players, you don’t want to be bringing players in for their first cap or their second caps so that is always the hard balance”

“We have a tremendous friendly tomorrow, top quality friendly tomorrow and two World Cup qualification games to make sure that we are alright for the Africa Cup of Nations. We will be prepared for sure. Because come this time, apart from any players that potentially might miss the AFCON. Then we will get the right balance of experienced players and players that have just come into the squad and we will be ready for what will be a very tough tournament” he said.

The Black Stars suffered a 2-0 defeat to Mexico at the Bank of America stadium in Charlotte last Saturday and will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways when they face the USA.