Fight for positions - John Paintsil tells Okrah and Barnieh after Black Stars call-up

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Former Black Stars defender, John Paintsil, has entreated locally-based players who have been called to the Black Stars to fight for positions.

Bechem United's Augustine Okrah and Hearts of Oak's Daniel Afriyie are the two Ghana Premier League players named in Otto Addo's 33-man squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and a four-nation tournament in Japan.

Paintsil urged them not to think little of themselves and not be intimidated by competing with players based abroad.

"The players (local ones) should not see themselves that there's no chance in the Black Stars because they play in the domestic league", Paintsil told Akoma FM.

The former Fulham defender recounted how he competed for a position in the national team while playing in a lower-tier division.

"I remember playing in the first division, I was still fighting for the national call up so they just have to encourage themselves. If you see yourself that, playing in the GPL will be hard to earn a call-up, so shall it be. Just see yourself equally as the foreign players and you can compete.

"It's just a basic thing, they should listen to the instructions of the technical team and work accordingly."

For Okrah, this is his first senior call up having played for Black Stars B. Whereas, Afriyie has received his second Black Star invitation but he is yet to make his debut.

Ghana will begin their qualifiers against Madagascar on June 1, 2022, before playing the Central African Republic four days later.

The team will also take part in a four nations tournament in Japan scheduled for June 2022.

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