U20 AFCON: I’m confident with our current set-up – Desmond Ofei

Black Satellites coach Desmond Ofei was expressed optimism ahead of the forthcoming coming U20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament.

The tournament is set to take place in Egypt, after initial hosts Ivory Coast pulled out, on April 27.

The Black Satellites have been pitted in Group C alongside defending Champions Senegal,  Dr Congo, and Central African Republic.

Ghana will begin it’s campaign on May 2 with a clash against Dr. Congo before facing Senegal three days later.

The group phase concludes for the Black Satellites with a tie against Central African Republic on May 8.

As part of the preparations for the tournament, the team, which has been training in Accra and Prampram intermittently, partook in a tournament in Morocco.

The process was undertaken to prun the large squad down to 21 players for the tournament and further assess the team.

Speaking to 3Sports, Black Satellites head coach Desmond Ofei revealed how the selection process was carried out.

“It’s been quiet tough but luckily, like I said, we starting through with the local boys. It was really good for us to also give opportunity to a lot of the talented boys here in the country. We assessed over 78 players; a combination of Premier and division one. And the remaining players, additional, maybe 25 players that came from the lower Divisions and also academies,” he said.

“Also we tried to give the boys that went to Togo an opportunity to reclaim their spot. And, in the end, I think we took it down to how the squad looks like now. It is almost 50/50. 50 percent of players that are in the current league (Premier League, Division One) and one or two from Division Two.”

“And then, the old boys that traveled last summer maybe even in January to come and complete the squad to make it 21 players,” he added

The Black Satellites annexed Gold at the 2023 African Games before finishing as runners-up in the WAFU B U20 tournament.

The successes have given Desmond Ofei confidence ahead of the U20 AFCON.

“We can not get it 100% right all the time but I’m pretty confident with the current set up right now. We going to push and see how far we get.”

Ghana will be hoping to secure a last four berth to secure a U20 World Cup appearance – a first since 2015.

The post U20 AFCON: I’m confident with our current set-up – Desmond Ofei first appeared on 3News.

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