Posted by Head Coach of the Black Stars, Chris Hughton has refused to confirm his choice goalkeeper for the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Angola.
The Black Stars will come up against the Central African nation at the Baba Yara Stadium at 4:00 pm on Thursday, March 23.
Chris Hughton who will be leading the team in his first game as head coach of the team is spoilt with choices, especially in post where he has Abdul Manaf Nurudeen, Jojo Wollacott who was first choice before his finger injury and Lawrence Ati-Zigi who was number one at the World Cup to choose from.
Speaking at the pre-match conference on Wednesday, Hughton was quizzed which of the three goalkeepers would be in post for the team on Thursday. He said:
“The answer is, we have a team and a squad that are all working hard for positions and what will happen is that over the period of tonight and tomorrow, I will name my team so at the moment there wouldn’t be anybody apart from my close technical staff who will know what the team is,” Hughton said as quoted by Ghanafa.org.
The former Newcastle United manager bemoaned the absence of Tariq Lamptey who pulled out of the qualifiers due to an injury and was replaced by Kingsley Schindler of FC Koln.
“Yes, it’s a big miss for us simply because he is only been involved for a short period of time but this is what having a squad is all about because what can happen is you can have players that can get injured two, three weeks before the International call up so you are aware there might be problems and with Tariq we knew that two weeks before that there was potentially going to be a problem,” said Hughton.
“This is about a squad, always there are going to be difficulties, always there is going to be surprises and that can be sometimes two or three days before games, this is where you have to utilize the squad the best way you can and the players the best way you can.”
Hughton further went on to assure fans that his team will give their all to sure that Ghana emerge victorious: “I have been to Kumasi three times in the last four days so I know the environment as well as I can do. Of course I was involved with the team when we came here for the Nigeria game and I know the difference it made to the team.”
“It’s a very passionate support; it’s a very vocal support and any team that wants to do well, wants a big crowed behind them and this I am quite sure will happen.”
“Whatever the numbers are, I know we have a very vocal crowd but we also know that as players we have the responsibility to return this. And the supporters must enjoy what they see and mostly wins can never be guaranteed but mostly they want to see a team that is giving everything to get the results,” he added.