THE Black Stars of Ghana have been significantly weakened ahead of key 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Angola and Niger, with eight players withdrawing.
Among the players who have pulled out of the matches are Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo and Athletic Bilbao striker Inaki Williams.
Ghana, who are third in Group F and need to win both games to finish in the top two and qualfy, are away to Angola on Friday and home to Niger Republic next Monday.
The other Black Stars players out of the matches due to injuries are Jonas Adjetey, Tariq Lamptey, Jerome Opoku, Alexander Djiku, Ibrahim Osman and Joseph Painstil.
The Ghana Football Association provided details on each player’s injury, noting that Williams sustained a hamstring injury on Thursday while Brighton full-back Lamptey had a “calf discomfort that got aggravated last week and currently undergoing rehabilitation with his club”.
On his part, Adjetey was said to be on his way to full recovery before suffering a set-back in his club’s last league game on Saturday.
“Jerome Opoku: Chronic back pain which got worse during a Super Lig game against Besiktas on Sunday, November 10. Jerome is currently undergoing rehabilitation with his club,” the GFA explained on Monday.
“Antoine 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: It’s an aggravation of an existing hamstring that got him substituted in their last game on Sunday, November 10, 2024.
“Ibrahim Osman: He picked up a hamstring injury in his last outing for his club which got him substituted at half-time.”
