Former Black Stars defender Illiasu Shilla has expressed concern over the number of players who have withdrawn from the squad through injury and a lack of match fitness ahead of Ghana’s opening two games in the 2027 AFCON qualifiers.
Carlos Queiroz 🤝🏾 Ernest Nuamah #BlackStars pic.twitter.com/zB96SKfYnU
— 🇬🇭 Black Stars (@GhanaBlackstars) September 23, 2026
His concerns come as Ghana face a challenging start to the qualifiers, with several experienced players, including captain Jordan Ayew, unavailable for the opening fixture against Côte d’Ivoire in Bouaké tomorrow.
Despite the setbacks, Shilla remains confident that the available players can step up when called upon by head coach Carlos Queiroz.
Everybody should be worried because since day one when I saw the pairings for the Group, everyone knows the capability of the Ivorians and we are losing our senior players.
But you see, the worrying factor is that if you are losing your senior players, especially in the senior national team it brings a lot of worry to some of us because Semenyo, Partey and Jordan are the leaders, as well as players we can count on them.
Frankly speaking, I was worried as a Ghanaian and also I’m also worried as a former player because we all saw what happened last two years. We were not part.
We couldn’t even qualify for the AFCON.
So I was thinking that maybe this is the time for us to take that opportunity at least, to be able to qualify.
The Black Stars have departed Accra for Côte d’Ivoire ahead of their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations Group C qualifier on Thursday, September 24. The team has been in camp since Monday and has held intensive training sessions at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Ghana’s preparations have been affected by injuries, with Mohammed Kudus, Thomas Partey and Antoine Semenyo ruled out of the current international assignment.
📋 Squad Update! 🚨
Following medical updates, Head Coach Carlos Queiroz has made nine additions for the upcoming international fixtures against Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia and Morocco.
🔗 more on: https://t.co/bd5ZTKkZge#BlackStars pic.twitter.com/nJlIcZOLQx
— 🇬🇭 Black Stars (@GhanaBlackstars) September 21, 2026
Ghana are in Group C with Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia and Somalia, and will be hoping for a positive result in Bouaké to begin their qualification campaign strongly.
