Posted by Former Vice President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Fred Pappoe has named some few local players he believes deserve a place in Ghana’s squad for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.
The Black Stars are amongst 32 countries to feature at the World Cup to be played from Sunday, November 20 to Sunday, December 18, 2022.
Head Coach of the team, Otto Addo is expected to announce his final squad for the competition latest by Sunday, November 13 and former Black Stars Management member, Fred Pappoe believes some local players deserve to make the squad.
“Local players must compete for places in the Black Stars. Every Ghanaian who is doing well deserves a call-up. The coaches, I’m sure, are scouting and whoever they think will be needed and is available, will definitely earn a call-up,” Fred Pappoe said on Akoma FM.
“On the local scene, I’m sure the coaches have their eyes on them for monitoring purposes”.
The 2019 GFA Presidential aspirant went on to name few local players he believes deserve a place in the team, but adds that they need to fight for a place in the team with other players.
“They (local players) are doing well, someone like Richard Boadu of Kotoko, Razak Kasim of Great Olympics, and of course Afriyie Barnie all deserve a call up as well as other players in some local teams.
“But they have to compete with other players in the Black Stars, and if they are not eventually called, then probably it might be because of how tough the competition is and not necessarily because they are local players”, he added.
Ghana will head into the World Cup in poor form. The team has won just 3 of 12 games played this year, including the penalty shootouts win against Chile in the Kirin Cup.
In spite of the poor form, Fred Pappoe is optimistic the team will make an impact at the World Cup.
“Ghana can perform well at the World Cup. It’s all about preparations and so far with the friendlies Ghana have played the coaches must be in a position to do a proper evaluation,” said Fred Pappoe.
“It’s possible and I’m very hopeful that we can do well, and the coaches should be able to identify areas, where they think, must be strengthened, it could be new call-ups or getting other friendly games to correct the mistakes they have identified. It is not going to be easy, it takes hard work.”
“Looking at the precious groups that we progress with in 2006 and 2010, surely we can repeat the same performance this time by having the right focus, atmosphere, and support from all Ghanaians, I believe we can progress.”
Ghana have been pitted in Group H of the group stages alongside Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea.
The Black Stars will start their campaign against Portugal on Thursday, November 24, before playing Uruguay on Monday, November 28 and South Korea on Friday, December 2.