African Cup of Nations Preview: Ghana

January 4th, 2008 | by: Daryl | Comments(13)

There are 16 days until the African Cup of Nations gets started and 16 teams to get to know. So the World Cup Blog preview of this fine tournament kicks off in Group A with host nation Ghana. After the jump you’ll find information like history, geography, a fixture list, players to watch out for and and all that good stuff. It’s like being at school except it’s all about football so it’s good for you.

Your 2008 African Cup of Nations hosts have all kinds of interesting issues bubbling away in the background too. Like a captain who’s injured but still in the squad, a star midfielder who’ll be jetting back and forth to play in the Premier League, a keeper who’s been told by his club that he’s fired unless he pulls out of the tournament and a striker in the squad may not even be eligible to play for Ghana. So come on in and meet the Black Stars.

Nickname: The Black Stars

Jersey: White shirt, socks and shorts (home.) Red shirt with thin yellow shoulder trim, red shorts and red socks (away.)

Geography: “Ghana is situated on the southern coast of the West African bulge and is bordered to the east by Togo, to the west by the Ivory Coast, to the south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and northwest by Burkina Fasso.” – The Africa Guide

History: Have won the African Cup of Nations four times. In 1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982. However the 1990s team of Tony Yeboah and multiple time African Player of the Year Abedi Pele failed to win the tournament or qualify for a World Cup. The years following those two players retirement were known as “the generation gap” as Ghana waited for the next batch of superstars to emerge. It all came good in 2006 when Ghana qualified for the World Cup for the first time in the team’s history. With new superstar players like Michael Essien and Stephen Appiah leading the charge at World Cup 2006, Ghana emerged from the so-called “Group of Death” by beating the Czech Republic and the USA before losing to Brazil in the second round.

Manager: Experienced French manager Claude Le Roy may look like Martina Navratilova but the man knows his way around African football. Before taking on the Black Stars job, Le Roy had coached Cameroon (twice,) Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Le Roy’s biggest achievement as a manager came twenty years ago when his Cameroon team lifted the African Cup of Nations in 1988.

FIFA World Ranking: 43

Expectations: High. Very high. Ghana are the host nation and are blessed with several big name players. They will expect to win Group A for starters by beating Guinea, Namibia and Morocco, but it’s rarely as easy as all that.

Pros: Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien is among the best in the world right now. A proper box to box player who poses a threat going forward with some lethal long range shooting, but is also more than capable of sticking his foot in and winning the ball. Meanwhile Portsmouth midfielder Sulley Muntari has a left foot so cultured it could write a thesis on Russian literature without even reading the books and Udinese striker Asamoah Gyan has a very respectable 12 goals in 23 appearances for Ghana, including the fastest goal of the 2006 World Cup when he scored 68 seconds into Ghana’s win over the Czech Republic.

Cons: Captain and inspiration (and promising cellphone salesman) Stephen Appiah (pictured) is out injured, which is obviously a huge blow. Le Roy has made an interesting decision and named Appiah to his preliminary squad anyway, the idea being to keep Appiah around as advise and inspire to his teammates. But Appiah’s absence will put extra pressure and responsibility on Micheal Essien in midfield, and Essien’s going to be running on empty if – as planned – he flies back to London six days before the African Cup of Nations to play for Chelsea against Tottenham.

There’s a question mark over the future of Quincy Owusu Abeyie. The Celta Vigo striker is Dutch-Ghanaian and has already represented Holland at Under-21 level. He and the Ghanaian FA are anxiously waiting for FIFA to decide whether he’s eligible to play for the Black Stars or not.

There’s also the strange case of backup keeper Sammy Adjei, who’s been told by his Israeli club FC Ashdod that unless he pulls out of the tournament he’s going to get fired.

But the bigger problem is the ongoing tension between Le Roy and Bayer Leverkusen defender Hans Adu Sarpei, who Le Roy left out of the initial provisional squad but then pretended it was a clerical error when the Ghanaian media demanded the Bundesliga-based left back’s reinstatement.

Player to Watch: Striker Kwadwo Asamoah only made his Black Stars debut in November 2007, but has already signed and sealed a move from Ghanaian club Liberty Professionals to Italian team Udinese. He’ll head straight to Serie A once the African Cup of Nations is over and link up with fellow Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan. And if Quincy Owusu Abeyie does get the OK from FIFA then he’ll be looking to make the most of Le Roy’s faith in him. But for his sheer talent and dynamism, all eyes will naturally be on Michael Essien, who’s capable of doing things like this:

Team Blog? Of course. Inara’s Ghana blog will be keeping us up to date with everything Black Star related.

Fixtures: In Group A with Guinea, Namibia and Morocco.
Ghana vs Guinea (Accra, January 20th, 17:00 kick off)
Ghana vs Namibia (Accra, January 24th, 19:30 kick off)
Ghana vs Morocco (Accra, January 28th, 17:00 kick off)

Provisional Squad: This 27-man provisional squad will be whittled down to an official 23-man squad by the African Cup of Nations roster submission deadline of January 10th.

Goalkeepers:

Richard Kingson (Birmingham City), Sammy Adjei (Ashdod), Fatau Dauda (Ashantigold)

Defenders:

John Pantsil (West Ham United), Dan Opare (Ashantigold), Nana Kwasi Asare (FC Mechelon), John Mensah (Rennes), Alhassan Illiasu (FC Saturn), Francis Dickoh (FC Utretcht), Hans Adu Sarpei (Bayer Leverkusen), Harrison Afful (Asante Kotoko)

Midfielders:

Anthony Annan (I.K. Start), Eric Addo (PSV Eindhoven), Michael Essien (Chelsea), Bernard Kumodzi (Panionios), Laryea Kingston (Hearts), Haminu Draman (Locomotiv Moscow), Moussa Narry (Etoile du Sahel), Stephen Appiah (Fenerbahce), Sulley Muntari (Portsmouth), Andre Ayew (Olympique Marseille), Ahmed Barruso (AS Roma)

Strikers:

Matthew Amoah (NAC Breda), Asamoah Gyan (Udinese), Baffour Gyan (FC Saturn), Junior Agogo (Nottingham Forest), Quincy Owusu Abeyie (Celta Vigo), Kwadwo Asamoah (Liberty Professionals)