Ghana U23 coach Ibrahim Tanko has confirmed that Black Stars duo Kamaldeen Sulemana and Ransford Yeboah Königsdörffer will not be part of the Black Meteors squad for the upcoming Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in Morocco.
The duo, who are eligible for the tournament which serves as a qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, were included in the provisional squad list for the tourney but their respective clubs kicked against the decision to release them.
However, FC Nordsjaelland talismanic winger Ernest Nuamah will be joining the team in Rabat on Friday after making his debut for the senior national team of Ghana against Madagascar in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers last weekend.
“For now I understand Ernest Nuamah is going to join us. The rest will not be able to join so we only have to concentrate on those who are here. We already know Ernest and we’ve played with him during the qualifiers so know he is coming to add some quality to the team,” Ibrahim Tanko said as quoted by Ghanafa.org.
“The others were not with us during the qualifiers but we felt they had qualities that could help the team since they are not here we will concentrate on those we played the qualifiers with. We are 100 percent sure that the quality is enough. Let’s hope that we will have all players fit for the tournament.”
The Black Meteors landed in Morocco earlier today for the U-23 AFCON, where they’ll face Congo, Morocco and Guinea in the group stages.
Ghana will kickoff their campaign against Congo on Saturday, June 24, before playing Morocco on Tuesday, June 27 and then Guinea on Friday, June 30.
Two best teams from Group A and B will advance to the semifinals stage of the competition.
Winner of the tournament and the two runner ups will qualify to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games Men’s Soccer competition in Paris next year, while the 4th-placed team will play against a team from Asia in a playoffs to decide the final slot at the Olympics.
