Black Stars head coach CK Akonnor believes the absence of captain Andre Ayew ahead of Ghana’s clash against Sudan in AFCON 2021 qualifying match on Tuesday will create problems for his team but is confident other players can step up.
The team will have to do without captain Andre Ayew, scorer of both goals against Sudan 5 days ago, after he picked up an injury in training and did not travel with the team.
Deputy captain, Richard Ofori is also suspended and Fatau Dauda has now been roped in to replace him.
However, Akonnor can now also count on the services of Mubarak Wakaso, Majeed Ashimeru and Jeffrey Schlupp. The trio missed the game in Ghana after travel restrictions limited their ability to join up with the squad in time.
Akonnor is confident there are enough leaders in the team to fill the void left by Ayew.
“First of all, he is the leader of the team and so if you don’t have your leader, it’s always a problem,” he said.
“But having said that, these are professionals, they have been Europe for quite sometime now, they are doing well so they know what to do, and of course, with a bit of guidance from the technical team, I think they will be able to do well.
“He (Andre) is not in and so it won’t be necessary for us to talk about it. Yes, we have lost him, he delivered, he gave us two goals the other day.
“But now he no more there and so we have to deal with it and strategically we will find a way as to how we will play and get success,” Akonnor concluded.
Sudan vs Ghana is will kick off at 13:00GMT on Tuesday November 17, 2020, where a draw will ensure Ghana book their ticket to the competition to be held in Cameroon in early 2022.