Black Stars stranded in Kenya; coach, players fending for themselves

Players and the technical team of Ghana Black Stars are stranded in Kenya.

Graphic Online is reporting that poor organisation by officials has delayed the team’s preparation for Sunday’s crucial AFCON qualifier against Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.

The technical team was said to have left Accra for Kenya Monday night without any official from the Ghana Football Association (GFA) or the Ministry of Youth and Sports, leaving Coach Kwasi Appiah and his technical staff and players to fend for themselves in Naivasha, Kenya.

“Worst of all, Graphic Sports Online also discovered that the situation compelled most of the players who were stranded on arrival at the Nairobi airport to hire taxis themselves to the team’s hotel,” investigations by the portal revealed.

“Though the technical team expected most of the players who played for their clubs on Saturday to arrive in Kenya by Monday, flight tickets could not reach them in time, resulting in the arrival of players on Tuesday and Wednesday morning,” it added.




The development, Graphic Online reported, has compelled Coach Appiah to shift his first training session from Tuesday afternoon to 3:00pm on Wednesday by which time the full squad would be in camp.

As at Wednesday morning, 15 players were said to have reported to the camp. Lumor Agbenyenu, Harrison Afful, Jonathan and Andy Yiadom are expected to join later in the day.

A source told the portal that skipper Asamoah Gyan and nine other players arrived in camp on Tuesday and were joined by five others on Wednesday morning.

When contacted, deputy general secretary of the GFA, Alex Asante, told Graphic Sports he and the president of the Normalisation Committee, Dr Kofi Amoah, are due to travel to Kenya tonight to join the team.

He said the Stars will have a three-day training in Kenya from Wednesday to Friday after which the team will fly to Ethiopia at 9:00am on Saturday.

He explained that the only player who will miss Sunday’s game is Kwadwo Asamoah who informed the GFA of his unavailability due to an injury he sustained during a Serie A match for Inter Milan last Sunday.

Ghana clash with Ethiopia in a penultimate AFCON Group F qualifier in Addis Ababa on Sunday.

Source: Graphic.com.gh