Ghana presented an 18-man squad for the 21st edition of the Kirin Cup Soccer invitational tournament in Japan.
The Black Stars arrived in Osaka via Ethiopian Airlines from Luanda on Tuesday.
Coach Otto Addo has been forced to deal with a couple of withdrawals, injuries and COVID-19 cases after completing their June batch of games in the qualifiers to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) last Sunday.
Players like Jojo Wollacott, Jonathan Mensah, Gideon Mensah, Osman Bukari, Denis Odoi, Elisha Owusu and Kamaldeen Sulemana – who were involved in both games against Madagascar and the Central African Republic last week – are out of the Japan games.
Ghana Premier League duo Danlad Ibrahim (Asante Kotoko) and Augustine Okrah (Bechem United) could not honour late invites handed them after they were initially dropped last week.
However, Hearts of Oak forward Daniel Afriyie Barnieh has been able to connect with the squad after travelling from Accra alone.
Meanwhile, the Black Stars have held their first training session in Kobe, the city to host their first match.
- Kirin Cup Soccer 2022
The tournament is expected to give the Black Stars technical team the platform to test their strength ahead of the Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup later in November.
Ghana joins hosts Japan who will be represented by the Samurai Blue, Chile and fellow Africans in Tunisia.
The Kirin Cup Soccer is a two-round tournament that will have four games played on two separate days on Friday, June 10 in Kobe and Tuesday the 14th in Osaka.
Hosts Japan will host Ghana at Noevir Stadium in Kobe on June 10.
The second game for the Black Stars comes off four days later at the Panasonic Stadium in Osaka against either Chile or Tunisia.
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to play in Japan. The two matches in the Kirin Cup are very important for us, so we will do our best to produce a positive result in front of our fans in Japan,” coach Otto Addo told JFA media.
- Ghana squad:
Goalkeepers (2):
- 12 Lawrence ATI ZIGI (FC St. Gallen/Switzerland)
- 1 Abdul MANAF NURUDEEN (KAS Eupen/Belgium)
Defenders (5):
- 2 Andrew KYERE-YIADOM (Reading FC/England)
- 17. Abdul RAHMAN BABA (Reading FC/England)
- 18 Daniel AMARTEY (Leicester City/England)
- 5 Dennis NKRUMAH-KORSAH (Hearts of Oak)
- 3 Alidu SEIDU (Clermont Foot 63/France)
Midfielders (6):
- 10 Andre MORGAN RAMI AYEW (Al-Sadd SC/Qatar)
- 6 Edmund ADDO (FC Sheriff/Moldova)
- 11 Mubarak WAKASO (Shenzhen FC/China PR)
- 7 Abdul FATAWU ISSAHAKU (Sporting Lissabon/Portugal)
- 20 Kudus MOHAMMED (Ajax Amsterdam/Netherlands)
- 15 Christopher ANTWI ADJEI (SC Paderbon/Germany)
Forwards (5):
- 9 Jordan PIERRE AYEW (Crystal Palace/England)
- 23 Kwasi OKYERE WREIDT (Holstein Kiel/Germany)
- 19 Benjamin TETTEH (Yeni Malatyaspor/Turkey)
- 14 Daniel AFRIYIE BARNIEH (Hearts of Oak)
- 13 Felix OHENE AFENA-GYAN (AS Roma/Italy)
Schedule:
Friday, June 10 – Noevir Stadium, Kobe
- Chile vs Tunisia – 6:15 am
- Japan vs Ghana – 9:55 am
Tuesday, June 14 – Panasonic Stadium, Osaka
- Chile or Tunisia vs Ghana – 6:15 am
- Japan vs Chile or Tunisia – 9:55 am