Accra, March 4, GNA - New Black Stars coach Burkhard Ziese, on Tuesday named 21 local players to form the nucleus of the team, as the nation gears up for a four-nation tournament in Tunisia from March 28 to the 30th. He said the list would be reviewed week-after-week.
The German requested the invited players to report for camping at the Hospitality Center at Tema Community 7, on Wednesday, March 5. Liberty Professionals, leads the pack of invited players with seven players followed by Hearts of Oak with five and the rest from Kotoko, Great Olympics and Obuasi Goldfields.
The players are Sammy Adjei(pictured), Wisdom Abbey, Kwabena Boafo, Bernard Don Bortey, Princeston Owusu-Ansah (Hearts), Emmanuel Addoquaye Papoe, Samuel Cudjoe, William Teiro, Daniel Yeboah, Jonathan Quartey, Nii Aryee Alex and George Yamoah, all of Liberty.
The rest are Micheal Asente, Issah Ahmed, Kwabena Dodzi (Olympics) Godfred Yeboah, Aziz Ansah, Stephen Owusu, Isaac Boakye (Kotoko) and Abubakari Kankani of Goldfields.
Burkhard outlines ambitious plan
New Black Stars Coach Burkhard Ziese assumed office on Tuesday with a catalogue of at least 10 international friendly matches, aimed at pushing Ghana forward on the FIFA rankings from 59 to 30 and fifth on the African continent within 12 months. The high profile matches includes Australia who recently beat England 3-1 in London and another European country yet to be named on April 2 and 7 June respectively. Sequel to this, an initial list of 21 local players has been penciled down by the coach together with his assistant, Isaac Paha, which would be reviewed week-after-week.
The German would however, be without his number two deputy Malik Jabir who tended in his resignation letter on Tuesday citing family pressures and his new job with Kumasi Asante Kotoko.
Aside this setback, the coach told a press conference that all was set for a good takeoff to give the nation a World Cup debut. He noted however, that the road would be rough against the backdrop that he would have to combine the job of the Black Stars and that of the Black Meteors.
Burkhard said in the case of a clash of programme, he would delegate his assistant to take charge of one of the teams. He said all relevant foreign-based players have been contacted except Alex Nyarko who is yet to be convinced to make a comeback.
The coach's immediate assignment is to prepare a squad for a four-nation tournament in Tunis, which include, African Champions', Cameroon and Algeria from March 28 through to 30th. It is the second "homecoming" for the coach who was booted out in 1992 after guiding the Black Stars to qualify for the African Nations Cup in Senegal the same year after years of absence at the African soccer fiesta.
He concluded the signing of a 10,000-dollar one-year renewable contract with the Ghana Football Association but not without a hitch. He contested the inclusion of a six-month probation period clause, which according to the German, is observed by those serving prison sentences in his home country.
