GFA Technical Director opens up on player selection inconsistency

Ghana Football Association technical director Bernard Lippert admits the Black Stars leadership has been rather inconsistent in player selections but deems the situation necessary.

The West Africans are led by former captain CK Akonnor who has been at the helm of affairs since January last year.

German coach Lippert, on the other hand, was appointed to his role in October last year, replacing Francis Oti Akenteng.

“[My time with the Black Stars] is honestly too short to judge everything now after just five months. We are still in the process of selection,” Lippert told Citi Sports.

"We have a lot of players, I think more than 50, and it’s time to finish the selection process and concentrate on a squad of 25 to 30 players and really prepare them tactically and in group tactics to make the team really strong.

“We played almost every match with a different squad and this, in my opinion, was maybe a little bit too many changes because we changed too often.

"But at the end of the day, it was also necessary to find out the best players. We have a new coaching staff so we also will love to get used to them and find a final squad.”

Ghana are preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon early next year where they have set their sights on winning their fifth title. It will be their first success in 40 years.

Before Afcon, however, the Black Stars have 2022 World Cup qualifiers to clear, their first set of two assignments billed against Ethiopia and South Africa next month.

"From now onwards, it’s not going to be about trials again. We’re not going to be picking players from somewhere unless there’s something dramatic, for which we’ll need to do that," Akonnor said after Ghana's last match, a 3-1 home win over Sao Tome and Principe in the Afcon 2022 qualifiers in March.

"The chunk of players that we have, I think it’s fair to say that we can work hard with them and try to change the attitude of the team, have a better philosophy and move forward.”

Akonnor is expected to soon announce his squad for the upcoming double-header against Ethiopia and South Africa.