2025 AFCON Qualification: Massive blow to Ghana's Black Stars as eight players withdraw from squad

Ghana’s Black Stars will be missing about eight players when they face Angola and Niger in the penultimate and final game of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.

Inaki Williams of Atletico Bilbao would miss the two games due to a hamstring injury. He did not play in his team’s 1-1 draw with Valladolid yesterday.

Antoine Semenyo, although playing for Bournemouth over the weekend, will be unable to travel to Ghana to prepare for the two upcoming games.

A statement on the Ghana Football Association website said this about Semenyo: “Nursing an injury of the patella tendon due to overload of games. The club medical team thought it wise to use the break to refer him to a tendon specialist to prevent worsening of the injury.”

Alexander Djiku, Ghana’s most consistent defender, will also be unavailable after suffering a hamstring injury in Besiktas’ 4-1 victory over Sivasspor over the weekend.

Other players, such as Ibrahim Osman, Jerome Opoku, Jonas Adjetey, and Tariq Lamptey, would be sidelined due to various ailments.

However, Joseph Painstil withdrew from the squad for personal reasons.

The Black Stars would face Angola at the Estádio 11 de Novembro in Luanda on Friday, November 15, 2024, and host Niger at the Accra Sports Stadium three days later.

GNA