Ghana coach Ibrahim Tanko has named his final 21-man squad for the 2019 CAF U23 Cup of Nations including USA-based striker Ropapa Mensah of Nasville SC, GHANASoccernet.com can exclusively report.
The ex-Cameroon assistant coach has retained about 50% of the players who featured in the qualifiers though the timing of the tournament has denied him the services of some first choice materials in Europe.
Nonetheless, Tanko has named 12 foreign-based players and nine home-based stars including Emmanuel Cudjoe of Godwin Attram’s Attram De Visser Academy.
Holland-born Robin Polley of ADO Den Haag, son of ex-Black Stars striker Prince Polley, gets to play a first major international tournament.
Kwabena Owusu, a member of Ghana’s squad at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, is available to boost the team.
The Black Meteors are currently training in Accra and expected to leave the country on Monday to Egypt for the tournament which runs from 8-22 November.
Ghana open their campaign against Cameroon on the opening day before facing Egypt and Mali on 11 and 14 November respectively.
The best three teams will qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games football tournament.
Ghana’s 21-man squad for 2019 CAF U23 Cup of Nations:
Goalkeepers: Kwame Baah (Asante Kotoko), Richmond Ayi (Hearts of Oak), Ibrahim Danlad (Asante Kotoko)
Defenders: Kingsley Fobi (CB Badajoz, Spain), Edward Sarpong (Esperanca de Lagos, Spain) Emmanuel Cudjoe (Attram De Visser), Fuseini Zackaria (Berekum Chelsea), William Ntori, Dankyi (Hearts of Oak), Mohammed Habib (Asante Kotoko), Robin Polley (ADO Den Haag)
Midfielders: Evans Osei Wusu (Tema Youth), Simon Zibo (Vitoria Guimaraes, Portugal), Nurudeen Abdul-Aziz (Vision FC), Emmanuel Addoquaye Lomotey (Extremadura, Spain), Yaw Yeboah (Celta Vigo, Spain), Evans Mensah (HJK Helsinki, Finland), Michael Agbekpornu (Dreams FC).
Strikers: Frank Arhin (Dalkurd, Sweden), Kwabena Owusu (Cordoba, Spain) Ropapa Mensah (Nashville SC), Samuel Obeng Gyabaa (Real Oviedo)