Black Stars to prepare from Sekondi

The Black Stars will set up camp in Sekondi from where Milovan Rajevac will begin the final leg of Ghana's build up for the African Nations Championship.

Players called up will be reporting to the Raybow Hotel in Sekondi on Saturday, February 14 at 3.00pm.

From a tall list of 40 players, the Black Stars coach has pruned his squad to 23 as the final stages of preparations gets underway in the Western Region this weekend for the maiden Championship designed for locally-based players only.

“This is the preparation for the final tournament. We had the first phase and saw a number of players.

“But we were missing some players on national assignment with the Black Satellites. They will now join in and I expect great competition,” Rajevac said to www.ghanafa.org.

“We had a lot things to look for and worked very hard during the first period which was for eight days. We tested them and had some results.”

Ghana has been paired with Zimbabwe, DR Congo and Libya in Group B for the African Nations Championship.

The Black Stars, seeded as the top side in Group B would be based in Bouake, the second largest Ivorian city.

Eight nations including the hosts, Ivory Coast would be competing for the maiden Championship.

The tournament kicks off from the 22nd February-8th March 2009.

Called up players
Samuel Inkoom, Ofosu Appiah, Jordan Opoku, Emmanuel Agyemang Badu, Francis Coffie, Stephen Manu and Kwadwo Poku (Asante Kotoko)

Philemon MacCarthy, Michael Osei Bonsu and Charles Asampong Taylor (Accra Hearts of Oak)

Daniel Agyei, Sam Ayew Yeboah and Yaw Antwi (Liberty Professionals)

Daniel Yeboah and Edmund Owusu Ansah (Heart of Lions)

Isaac Owusu and Francis Mantey (Wa All Stars)
Ernest Sowah (Tema Youth) Rahim Ayew (Eleven Wise) Iddrisu Yahaya (Kessben) Mohammed Habib (AshantiGold) Harrison Afful (Feyenoord) and Ebo Andoh (King Faisal).