Black Stars predicted XI against Ethiopia in World Cup qualifier today
Coach CK Akonnor’s Black Stars will kickstart their qualification campaign for the Qatar 2022 World Cup with a home date against the Walias of Ethiopia at the Cape Coast Stadium. Being the first match, Akonnor would aim to start impressively to avoid any late pressure especially with the wounded South Africans who failed to qualify for next year’s AFCON while playing in the same group with the Black Stars also in the group.
CK Akonnor has introduced several new faces into the Black Stars side since taking over the reign from his former boss, Kwesi Appiah. In the last two friendlies, he makes some changes to the starting XI for each match. We are now eager to see who had impressed him much in those two fixtures to warrant a role from the onset in today’s match.
The point of note is that some personalities who were absent from both friendlies are now in the squad for this match.
Razak Abalora started in goal in the Morroco game but after a costly mistake that led to the Stars defeat, he warmed the bench against the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire as Lawrence Ati-Zigi took his chance between the sticks to impress. However, Abalora is absent from the squad alongside Danlad Ibrahim and their places have been taken by Richard Attah of Hearts of Oak and Manf Nurudeen of AS Eupen. Old guard, Richard Ofori is back having missed the friendlies through injury. Richard Ofori will have our nod to start in goal today against the Walias.
Andy Yiadom and Daniel Amartey were the only faces that started at the back in the last two matches with Baba Rahman and Gideon Mensah alternating as well as Alexander Djiku and Nicholas Opoku. Jonathan Mensah is also back in the squad for the first time, having being absent for a long time and would be handy with his experience but also has played less with the current backline set which might be his weakness. We trust Akonnor to go with Yiadom, Rahman, Amartey and Mensah at the back in front of Ofori.
In midfield, Akonnor has a lot of options and depending on whether he would want to play two upfront or three he could utilize different players. In the last two matches, Iddrisu Baba, Samuel Owusu and Emmanuel Lomotey played from the start against Morroco with Mohammed Kudus and Thomas Partey taking the places of the latter two against Ivory Coast. However, Partey and Kudus are absent but Wakasu and Schlupp are back in. We will back Akonnor to opt for Wakasu, Iddrisu Baba and Suelmana.
In attack, we have a lot of options to choose from including Hearts of Oak sensation Daniel Afriyie. Joel Fameyeh and Emmanuel Gyasi alternated in the previous match Andre Ayew missing in both matches. We however expect the captain to play alongside Jordan and Gyasi upfront today with Fameyeh coming in later to replace Gyasi.
Predicted Starting XI vs Ethiopia: Richard Ofori, Andy Yiadom, Baba Abdul Rahman, Daniel Amartey, Jonathan Mensah, Mubarak Wakasu, Iddrisu Baba, Kamaldeen Sulemana, Andre Ayew, Emmanuel Gyasi, Jordan Ayew.
By: Clifford Adumbire | myactiveonline.com
