Ghana Football Association Communications Director Henry Asante Twum has outlined reasons why the Black Stars technical team hoped to pitch camp in South Africa.
The men’s senior national football team were scheduled to commence the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations preparations in Johannesburg, December 31. But the GFA later announced a change in plans, stating that Ghana will train in Kumasi and face Namibia in an international friendly as well.
Twum highlighted the reason why they had South Africa as their destination for shaping up for ten days.
“Chris [Hughton] always decides to train behind closed doors and it has always been impossible to train behind closed doors in Ghana,” he told Joy FM.
“Just this past Sunday, the [Asante] Kotoko-RTU game was moved from 3 pm kickoff to 6 pm because there were three different funerals taking place at the Baba Yara Stadium on the matchday and Kotoko wrote to the FA to request for change of kickoff time.
“That is a key consideration and it is one of the major headaches we have had since we moved from Cape Coast to Kumasi to play our home matches.
“With these points that I have enumerated, Ghana was completely ruled out.”
The Black Stars, placed in Group B with Egypt, Cape Verde, and Mozambique, commence their campaign on January 14 against Cape Verde, followed by matches against Egypt on January 18 and Mozambique on January 22.
