Nana Oduro Sarfo, a member of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Executive Council, has defended his outfit’s decision not to release the Black Stars squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying playoff against Nigeria next week.
While Nigeria released theirs early this month, many Ghanaians have absolutely no idea which players have been called up for the huge two-legged tie.
The former Berekum Chelsea Chief Executive revealed in an interview seven days before the first leg that the list had been submitted to the GFA by Otto Addo-led Black Stars technical team, but only two had seen it.
He mentioned GFA president Kurt Okraku and his vice Mark Addo who heads the Black Stars management committee.
“Apart from the GFA president and his vice no exco member knows the players that have been called,” he told Accra based Starr FM on Friday.
Earlier this week, GFA communications director Henry Asante Twum said that social media abuse is one of the reasons the squad hasn’t been made public.
“It is a technical decision backed by management, and it is a well-thought-out and purely strategic move, he told Ghanaian Times.
“They felt it’s a way of controlling or minimising the abuse that normally takes place before games, especially on social media. Sometimes, the public abuse gets to the players and affects their mentality.”
Ghana will host the first leg of the playoff tie on March 25 at the Baba Yara Stadium, before travelling to Abuja for the second leg.
The winner will be in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.
Black Stars missed out on the last edition and are seeking a return while Nigeria were in Russia and are poised to make it to Qatar.
Source: 3news.com