Stars to miss Gyan against Mozambique?
Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan, is a major doubt for the team’s two-leg AFCON 2017 qualifier against the Mambas of Mozambique in Accra after he limped out of his side's final training session on Wednesday with a thigh injury that could affect his participation in today's Group H clash and possibly the reverse fixture in Maputo on Sunday.
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The 30-year-old Shanghai SIPG forward, who has been dogged by niggling injuries in recent times, did not complete the training session which was held at the Accra Sports Stadium after the injury.
He left the stadium with his thigh strapped heavily with an ice-pack, a situation which had many observers, including his elder brother, Baffour Gyan, teammates and hundreds of fans visibly worried.
No member of the Stars’ medical team was available for comment. However, Gyan's teammate, Emmanuel - Agyemang Badu, who is likely to stand in as captain, said although he was unsure about the extent of injury he was confident that players such as Jordan Ayew and Abdul-Majeed Waris were capable replacements.
“He walked out of training, so you don’t know what the problem is so we have to wait and see,” the Udinese midfielder told the media after the training session.
“With him [Gyan], the team will be solid but without him we will have to work hard. We have exciting strikers like Jordan and Waris and they can win the game for Ghana”.
Even in Gyan’s absence, Mozambique, who are languishing in 100th place on the FIFA Rankings and have already lost their first two games against Rwanda (0-1) and Mauritius (1-0), are not expected to pose a serious threat to the Stars’ (ranked 41st) chances of qualification for AFCON 2017 which takes place in Gabon next January.
Aside his skipper who is the only doubt for the game, coach Avram Grant has the full complement of his 23-man team participating in training including Aston Villa striker Ayew who is expected to fill Gyan’s void.
The three goalies in the team, Razak Brimah, Muntari Tagoe and Adam Kwarasey, who in the past criticised the training methods of the Black Stars goalkeepers trainer Nasamu Yakubu, were also put through their paces in an incident-free session.