I won’t invite local players and keep them on the bench – CK Akonnor

Published on: 01 April 2020
I won’t invite local players and keep them on the bench – CK Akonnor
CK Akonnor

Ghana coach Charles Akonnor says local players invited into the Black Stars will be given the opportunity to play and not be kept on the bench.

Local players are barely given the opportunity to play anytime they are invited into Black Stars in recent years.

Felix Annan remains the last local player to feature for the team and he did that in a friendly match against Mauritania prior to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Although Akonnor believes there is a big gap between local players and players based abroad, he has encouraged the locals to be confident of getting the same chance under his reign.

“The locals, when you see them with the professionals [players abroad], there is a big gap and that is up to them. Of course, once we see a player doing well, I will give him that chance and they should also believe that they are coming to play, not even to be on the bench. They should believe that and that will show automatically in training. These are the things that they will have to do and that comes from the individual," Akonnor said.

Akonnor in his first Ghana squad included four Ghana Premier League players. He invited Aduana Stars striker Yahaya Mohammed, Hearts of Oak goalkeeper Richard Attah, Ashanti Gold full-back Kwadwo Amoako and Habib Mohammed who plays as a centreback for Asante Kotoko.

The squad he named was for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations double-header qualifiers against Sudan last month. The games were called off by CAF due to the spread of novel coronavirus pandemic.

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