Ivory Coast head coach Patrice Beaumelle names squad for Ghana friendly next month

Ivory Coast head coach, Patrice Beaumelle has named a 24-man squad for the upcoming friendly matches against Ghana and Burkina Faso next month.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifications which were scheduled to take place in June have been postponed to September by CAF.

In effect, the Ivory Coast Football Federation has arranged friendlies with the Black Stars and the Stallions in place of the qualifiers.

The Elephants will take on Burkina Faso on 5 June 2021 in Abidjan before they face Ghana on 12 June 2021 in Cape Coast.

The Frenchman handed debut call-ups to six players namely; Hamed Junior Traore, Chris Vianney Bedia, Serge Arnaud Aka, Ismaila Wafougossani Soro, Hassane Kamara, and Wilfried Singo.

Arsenal star Nicolas Pepe and AC Parma winger Gervinho Yao Kouassi were not listed in the squad announced on Thursday.

Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha was also not named for the two friendlies.

Below is the full list of the squad:

Goalkeepers:

Sylvain Gbohouo (TP Mazembe - DR Congo) Ali Sangare Badra (JDR Stars - South Africa)

Defenders:

Serge Aurier (Tottenham Hotspur - England) Willy Boly (Wolverhampton Wanderers - England) Wilfried Singo (Torino FC - Italy) Eric Bertrand Bailly (Manchester United - England) Diomande Sinaly (Olympique Lyon - France) Wilfried Kanon (Al Gharafa - Qatar) Hassane Kamara (OGC Nice - France) Odilon Kossounou (Club Brugges - Belgium) Maxwell Cornet (Olympique Lyon - France).

Midfielders:

Serey Die Geoffroy (FC Sion - Switzerland) Sangare Ibrahim (PSV Eindhoven - Netherlands) Ismaila Wafougossani Soro (Celtic FC - Scotland) Franck Yannick Kessie (AC Milan - Italy) Serge Arnaud Aka (El Gouna - Egypt) Hamed Junior Traore (US Sassuolo - Italy) Max Alain Gradel (Sivasspor - Turkey) Amad Diallo Traore (Manchester United - England).

Forwards:

Junior Lago (Real Mallorca - Spain) Sebastien Haller (Ajax Amsterdam - Netherlands) Christian Koffi Kouame (Fiorentina - Italy) Jeremie Boga (US Sassuolo - Italy) Chris Vianney Bedia (FC Sochaux - France).