The riddle of who captains the senior national soccer team, the Black Stars, to next month’s Nations Cup finals in Mali, as well as the final list of 22, will be resolved next January 4, after a friendly international in Cairo, Egypt.
Black Stars head coach Fred Osam-Duodu who disclosed this to the Graphic Sports over the weekend said his options are still open after a rejection of the captaincy offer by deputy skipper Samuel Osei Kuffour had generated intense furore.
According to the veteran coach, the team is without a substantive captain as far as he is concerned in view of the absence of former skipper C.K. Akunnor from his interim list. He hinted that he would use the remaining international friendlies to assess the good leaders among the lot to help them pick the player who deserves that position.
In view of that, the captain’s band of the Stars in the matches against Mali, Spain and Egypt is expected to rotate among the probable candidates.
After their recent impressive 1-1 away outing against the Desert Warriors of Algeria, the Black Stars next assignment was to be against Niger, Benin or Tunisia tomorrow.
But according to coach Osam-Duodu, none of the three countries had confirmed their participation as at the weekend even though they were still expecting to receive confirmation from any of the three countries.
He, however, pointed out that they will test their strength against Accra Hearts of Oak at the Accra Stadium tomorrow if they do not hear from them.
The three other international games will be against Mali (December 29), Spain and Egypt (January 4).
In view of the upcoming international matches, the coach noted that they will send an urgent message to five foreign-based players - George Blay, John Mensah, Kofi Amponsah, Emmanuel Duah and Stephen Appiah - to report immediately to enhance the teams preparations.
So far, only four out of the 15 invited foreign-based players are in camp. They are Alex Tachie-Mensah, Ibrahim Razak, Baffour Gyan and Prince Amoako. Two others who are in town, Charles Amoah and Peter Ofori-Quaye have been granted permission to seek medical attention for injuries after they reported to camp last Thursday.
According to coach Osam-Duodu, Sturm Graz striker, Charles Amoah, is suffering from foot rot while Ofori-Quaye is nursing a knee injury. He said both players are expected to report back to camp on Monday while the rest of the foreign-based stars are expected to arrive after December 23.
He hinted further that the pruning exercise to cut down the number to the final 22 required for the tournament will begin this week.
Currently 25 players are in camp, and the competition for positions is expected to reach dizzy heights in the coming weeks as the countdown to the Nations Cup begins.
The Stars coach also intimated that morale in camp keeps soaring by the day as the work rate of the players increases match after match.
The Stars defeated Alhaji Maikanoo's Africa Stars 3-1 last Thursday before beating Abedi Pele’s Nania FC 2-0 in a match watched by the Maestro himself and co-legend, Roger Milla of Cameroon.
