Ayews out, Accam, Appiah, Abu in

Ghana's Black Stars will travel to the USA for their double international friendly without the Ayew Brothers, Andre Dede and Jordan, who have asked to be excused from the games.

The two players were part of the Stars team that won 5-0 against Ethiopia in their 2017 African Cup of Nations qualifier in Kumasi a fortnight ago, but their respective clubs, Aston Villa and Swansea, have asked that they be excused so they can have some rest before they report back to England.

The two players had a hectic season in the English Premier League, both struggling to hold their places in their clubs, and with the pre-season set to begin next week for most clubs, the clubs put in a request and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) obliged given that the Stars’ assignments are outside the mandatory FIFA international free dates.

The Stars resumed training at the Accra Stadium last Monday in preparation for the June 28 and July 1 dates with Mexico and USA respectively, but the Ayews were conspicuously missing at the training sessions.

The Stars will engage the South American champions on Wednesday, June 28 at the Houston Dynamo Stadium before facing off with the Bruce Arena’s rejuvenated USA side on July 1 at the Pratt & Whitney Stadium in East Hartford, Connecticut.

Meanwhile, Coach Kwasi Appiah has called up Kwadwo Poku, David Accam and Mohammed Abu, all plying their trade in the US, as booster.

Coach Appiah said, since the friendlies were not ‘do or die’ affair, it was alright for the players to be out, saying it would also afford the technical team opportunity to assess other players called up as replacement.

“The friendlies are just build-up exercises, so every player called up and is available will have a chance to prove himself”, he said.

Asked if the result of the two matches would be important, Coach Appiah answered in the affirmative but insisted they won’t be the focus of their game.

“Of course, we would want to win, as that is a confidence booster and good to prepare us up in the FIFA rankings. However, our focus remains building up a formidable team for the schedules ahead of us and that will be our primary focus in both games,” Coach Appiah stressed.

The Stars leave for the US on Saturday and it is likely that apart from the Ayews, Appiah will stick to the side that beat Ethiopia in addition to the Toronto FC’s Accam and Columbus Crew’s Abu, as well as Poku, who plays for FC Miami.