Ghana assistant coach Mas-ud Didi Dramani has explained the decision of Black Stars technical team not to include locally based players in the squad list for this month's 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers double-header against Angola.
Ghana is scheduled to play against the Palancras Negras in the qualification round of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations this month.
Earlier this month, the newly-appointed Ghana coach Chris Hughton announced a 25-man foreign-based squad list for the double-header against Angola.
However, his deputy coach has said disclosed that the technical team opted to keep most of the players who had been handed consistent invitations to the national team following their explosive performances and the nature of the game against Angola.
“I think it goes with consistency and closeness of games. It is very important not to overstate that he (Chris Hughton) releases his squad and then no local player is in there. I think when we start doing that then I think we are pre-emptying on the negativities and I think that we are paying much attention to the local league as you can see me coming out to watch lot of the games,” Didi Dramani said in an interview with Citi Sports.
“When you look at the team, It is made of a consistent squad and we want to remain consistent when the decision not to invite any local player.
“The Black Stars is a team in progress and so the team will continuously be consistent in their approach. The team is a work in progress and so what you find is actually what is needed at the shortest possible time. In the longest possible time, in this era, you need to look out for things that will give you immediate team structure, you don’t have time.
“The team is playing on Thursday and then on Monday so there’s no time for you to be thinking about processes where you need players to have the chance to have strong integration and then adaptation.
“This is the time to be thinking about who to bring and then immediately you are able to get what you need, there’s no time in this period. These periods are very short-lived so we need to acknowledge the importance of the timelines.”
Ghana will host Palancras Negras of Angola at the Baba Yara Sports stadium on Thursday, March 23 before travelling to Luanda on March 27, 2023 for the reverse fixture.
Ghana are joint top of the Group E table with 4 points from two games following a 3-0 win over Madagascar and a 1-1 draw with Central African Republic in June last year.
