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By Martin Graham | 16th Nov 2022
The Black Stars of Ghana have announced their 26-man roster for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The national team selection was announced on Monday, 14th of November just days before the start of the massive tournament.
The squad is one that is led by star midfielders Thomas Partey and Mohammed Kudus as well as new boys Tariq Lamptey and Inaki Williams. It is a squad filled with players that will be going to their first ever World Cup with the experienced players on this stage being The Ayew brothers, Jordan and Andre Ayew.
The Black Stars we’re forced to make changes in goal due to the fact that Jojo Wollacott from Charlton Athletic and South Africa-based Richard Ofori – were both injured in club action and would not be at the World Cup.
This meant that Lawrence Ati-Zigi,Danlad Ibrahim and Manaf Nurudeen will be going to the tournament as Ghana’s rather inexperienced goalkeeping options.
Andre Ayew, who will be going to his third World Cup will be tasked with leading his nation at the tournament as well as playing an important role in their success.
One of the big exclusions for the World Cup squad was Callum Hudson-Odoi. The Chelsea Midfielder, who is currently on a season long loan at German club Bayer Leverkusen was not selected to be in the squad because he has not made his mind up yet regarding his international future.
Jeffrey Schlupp is another glaring name on the list of players who will not be at the World Cup. The Crystal Palace midfielder with 20 caps for his country to his name was in the 55-man provisional squad but was not selected for the final team.
When asked about his exclusion, Ghana’s coach, Otto Addo said that Schlupp, along with other players that were not selected know why they aren’t in the squad.
“I am a person who’s very much on principles and one principle is that I wouldn’t like them to do to me. So I hope you understand that I would not like to talk about players who are in the squad,” Addo said as quoted by The Independent Ghana.
“As I said before, I have reasons on and off the pitch which were all communicated to the players so it is between me and the player. For me, that is it and they know why they are not in the squad.
“It is very difficult to understand from the outside but it is not good to talk about a player and then the player comes back to say he said this and he said that. We talked and they know the reason why they are not in the squad.
“I am very sorry I don’t want to go inside that. You know my principles and maybe you want to suggest, but they know why they are in the squad.”
Joseph Paintsil, Mubarak Wakaso and Felix Afena-Gyan are also among the big names missing from the Black Stars squad.
Ghana Squad in Full
Goalkeepers: Lawrence Ati-Zigi (St Gallen), Danlad Ibrahim (Asante Kotoko), Manaf Nurudeen (Eupen)
Defenders: Joseph Aidoo (Celta Vigo), Daniel Amartey (Leicester City), Abdul-Rahman Baba (Reading), Alexander Djiku (Racing Strasbourg), Tariq Lamptey (Brighton & Hove Albion), Gideon Mensah (AJ Auxerre), Denis Odoi (Club Brugge), Mohammed Salisu (Southampton), Alidu Seidu (Clermont Foot)
Midfielders: Andre Ayew (Al Sadd), Mohammed Kudus (Ajax Amsterdam), Daniel-Kofi Kyereh (SC Freiburg), Elisha Owusu (Gent), Thomas Partey (Arsenal), Salis Abdul Samed (Racing Lens)
Forwards: Daniel Afriyie (Hearts of Oak), Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace), Osman Bukari (Red Star Belgrade), Issahaku Abdul Fatawu (Sporting Lisbon), Antoine Semenyo (Bristol City), Kamal Sowah (Club Brugge), Kamaldeen Sulemana (Stade Rennes), Inaki Williams (Athletic Bilbao).
Ghana play their first World Cup game against Portugal on November 24.
