Ghana assistant coach, Mas Ud Didi Dramani has explained why there was no local player in the Black Stars squad to face Angola in the 2023 AFCON later this month.[ads2]
Coach Chris Hughton has been heavily criticised by some lovers of the domestic league after his 25-man squad for the Angola double-header had no local-based player.
In his explanation, Didi Dramani disclosed that consistency is what the technical team of the Black Stars are looking for hence why the 25-man squad had most of the players who represented the county at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and without any local-based player.
“I think it goes with consistency and closeness of games. It is very important not to overstate that he (Chris Hughton) releases his squad and then no local player is in there. I think when we start doing that then I think we are pre-emptying on the negativities and I think that we are paying much attention to the local league as you can see me coming out to watch lot of the games,” he said in an interview with Citi Sports.[ads3]
“When you look at the team, It is made of a consistent squad and we want to remain consistent when the decision not to invite any local player.
“The Black Stars is a team in progress and so the team will continuously be consistent in their approach. The team is a work in progress and so what you find is actually what is needed at the shortest possible time. In the longest possible time, in this era, you need to look out for things that will give you immediate team structure, you don’t have time.
“The team is playing on Thursday and then on Monday so there’s no time for you to be thinking about processes where you need players to have the chance to have strong integration and then adaptation.[ads4]
“This is the time to be thinking about who to bring and then immediately you are able to get what you need, there’s no time in this period. These periods are very short-lived so we need to acknowledge the importance of the timelines.”[ads5]