GFA reveals joint decision to drop Black Stars players for U-23 team

The decision to exclude certain Black Stars players from the recent international break in order to play for the Black Meteors was made jointly by Chris Hughton, the Black Stars coach, and the Black Meteors head coach, Ibrahim Tanko, according to the Ghana Football Association.

Fatawu Issahaku and Daniel Afriyie Barnieh, who both played for Ghana’s World Cup squad in Qatar last year, were left out of Chris Hughton’s latest call-up for Ghana’s doubleheader against Angola in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.

However, the two players, along with other promising talents, received an invitation to join the Ghana U-23 team after helping secure a 2-1 aggregate victory over Algeria and qualifying for the U-23 AFCON in Morocco.

In an interview with TV3 on WarmUp Plus, Henry Asante Twum, the communications director for the GFA, stated that the decision to select players for both the senior team and the U-23 team was a collaborative effort.

“We view every Black Meteors player as a potential Black Stars player. When we were preparing for those matches, which fell within the same international break, the two coaches, Chris[Hughton] and Tanko, had a meeting. Following that meeting, they decided that Issahaku, Afriyie Barnieh, and Nuamah should play for the Meteors,” he explained.

“We are delighted that we were able to qualify after the two legs,” he added.