No More New Call-ups For Black Stars - Nyantakyi

Ghana’s final 23-man squad for the 2012 Nations Cup will be drawn only from players who have featured so far under Coach Goran Stevanovic.

Any Ghanaian player who has not played in the Black Stars team since February 8 (Stevanovic’s first game in charge against Togo) will not go to Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.


The new directive could go against in-form Harrison Afful who has not played under Stevanovic.


It will be recalled that his goal handed Tunisian side Esperance a 1-0 win over WAC of Morocco which won the 2011 Caf Champions League.


“No, this is the final assessment of players for the Nations Cup squad,” Ghana FA boss Kwasi Nyantakyi told an Angel FM reporter after Ghana’s friendly with Gabon in Paris.

“When we go to camp in January the coach will select 23-players out of the one’s that have already had opportunities with the team.


“Some of them are not here but they will all join the team before the final selection is made.”


This situation effectively rules out Circle Brugge midfielder Rahim Ayew, Utrecht’s Nana Akwasi Asare, Arsenal’s Emmanuel Frimpong and the current leading goal scorer in the Glo Premier League Emmanuel Baffour of participating in next year’s CAN.


It also means players such as Nathaniel Asamoah, John Boye, Jordan Ayew and even Michael Essien all stand the chance of making the final cut for the Nations Cup