Ghanaian defender Abdul Baba Rahman has made known the reason for his omission from Ghana’s 27-man list for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.
Head coach Chris Hughton named his team for the tournament, choosing Gideon Mensah and Abdul Fatawu Hamidu as left-backs for the one-month competition.
As a result, Ghanaians have positively and negatively reacted to the coach’s decision to exclude Baba from the teamsheet. Earlier rumours claimed the PAOK Thessaloniki man felt hate from some football fans during his last international assignment against the Central African Republic in Kumasi and has discussed his exclusion from the team with the Ghana technical team.
The PAOK defender has made clarifications via X;
Hear me out:
I just wanted to say that the decision to opt out of the AFCON was solely based on footballing reasons and nothing else.
Playing for my country will always be the highest point of my career and every time I have been lucky to wear the shirt I have given my all.
The last few years I have had to battle injuries and recovery times and I feel that it’s best in the interest of my career and that of the team to only play when I don’t have to think about recovery or pain- that way I can always give my best to the team.
The life span of a footballer is very short and sometimes we have to make these tough calls for the general interest of the nation we love the most and that of our career to enable longevity.
I would be cheering the team and pushing them on to try to win us the AFCON we all desire. But as of now let’s all support anyone the manager picks because the most important thing is Ghana which is bigger than any individual.
God bless our homeland and make us great and strong.
Hear me out:
I just wanted to say that decision to opt out of the AFCON was solely based on footballing reasons and nothing else.
Playing for my country will always be the highest point of my career and everytime I have been lucky to wear the shirt I have given my all.
The… pic.twitter.com/qv3itU5uCF
— baba abdul-rahman (@babarahmangh) January 1, 2024
Ghana begin camping this week in Kumasi and will play an international friendly against Namibia on January 8.
The Black Stars are placed in group B alongside Egypt, Cape Verde and Mozambique. They commence the tourney on January 14 against Cape Verde.
