GFA summons Grant to defend Stars AFCON list

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has summoned the head coach of the Black Stars, Avram Grant, to fly down from the UK to defend his provisional list for the upcoming Africa Nations Cup in Gabon.

The Stars coach, as usual, forwarded a 30-man provisional list to the GFA yesterday for its perusal prior to the commencement of the team’s preparations towards the tournament in Accra next Tuesday.

But a source close to the FA told the Graphic Sports yesterday that members of the Black Stars Management Committee were not keen to discuss the list in the absence of Grant and, therefore, entreated the FA to impress upon the coach to fly down to defend his selection.

According to the source, the Committee will meet tomorrow afternoon to deliberate on the coach’s provision list, among other related issues regarding the tournament.

However, another grapevine source confided in this paper that he was not impressed with the provisional list submitted by the coach, which is the more reason why he needed to be around to defend the inclusion of some players in the squad.

Without mentioning names, the source noted that the list did not reflect the true picture of the quality of players the nation boasts of currently.

But as the management committee reassembles to scrutinise the calibre of players in the provision squad, whether or not Grant would be present remains to be seen.

The 30-man team is expected to be pruned down when the Stars begin non-residential camping in Accra on December 27. The final 23-man squad will be submitted to CAF during the final phase of the team’s camping in Dubai from January 2.

Among the players who are likely to make the final squad include skipper Asamoah Gyan and his deputy Andre Dede Ayew, Jordan Ayew, Baba Abdul Rahman, Daniel Amartey, John Boye, Harrison Afful, Afriyie Acquah, Mubarak Wakaso, Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Abdul Majeed Waris, Razak Braimah, Frank Acheampong and Samuel Tetteh.