Assistant coach of the Black Stars, Didi Dramani, has explained why local players had no place in the 25-man squad announced by Chris Hughton.
The newly named head trainer for the senior national team has announced his squad for the doubleheader against Angola in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON] qualifiers with no local player on the list.
Majority of the players that featured at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar have been maintained for the games.
According to Didi Dramani, consistency has been key to their selection.
“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,” he said in an interview with Citi Sports.
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“When you look at the team, it is made of a consistent squad and we want to remain consistent.
“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.”
The four-time African champions will play host to Angola on March 23 at the Baba Yara Stadium before the reverse fixture in Luanda on March 27.
The Black Stars lead Group E of the qualifiers with four points, followed by Angola who are also on four points before Central African Republic and Madagascar follow in that order.