Ghana’s Black Meteors will be missing forwards Kamaldeen Sulemana and Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer for the forthcoming 2023 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament.
Under pressure to end the country’s 20-year hiatus from Olympic football, head coach Ibrahim Tanko had staked his hopes on the inclusion of a trio of Black Stars firepower for the job ahead in Morocco.
Tanko listed Kamaldeen Sulemana, Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer, and Ernest Nuamah, who were with the Black Stars, to his 29-man preliminary roster for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics Games qualification tournament.
However, recent events have caused both Kamaldeen and Ransford-Yeboah to decide against joining the Meteors in Morocco.
It has also been stated that the Ghana Football Association’s efforts to obtain permission from their respective clubs (Southampton and Hamburg SV, respectively) to participate in the competition, which does not fall inside the Fifa timeframe, fell on deaf ears.
Meanwhile, Ernest Nuamah, another promising player who featured alongside Kamaldeen in their game against Madagascar, will still be joining Tanko’s side for the tournament after securing approval from his club Nordsjaelland.
His impressive performance and pivotal assists during qualifiers against Algeria proved instrumental in persuading his club to allow him to participate.
With these unfortunate withdrawals, coach Tanko now faces a difficult decision as he must drop four players from his options in camp before finalizing his 23-man roster.
The tournament
The Black Meteors will begin their campaign in Group A on Sunday, June 25, 2023 against Congo. The game will be played at Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat with kickoff at 15:00 GMT.
Ghana will face the Moroccans in their second game on June 27, and then Guinea three days later to finish the group stage. Both games kick off at 20:00 GMT.
The two top teams from Groups A and B will move on to the semifinals.
The competition’s winner and the two runners-up will earn a spot to represent Africa in the men’s soccer competition at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
