Ghana’s backroom staff are caught up in the planning process of a two-week training tour for the Black Stars but the players to make the trip would be announced sometime soon, says team coach, Claude Le Roy.
The Black Stars would embark on a two-week camp before the start of the African Cup of Nations to be hosted in four Ghanaian cities beginning January 20 to February 10.
Before the competition starts, Le Roy would be taking a sizeable number of players for the tour. But he says this is one of the most difficult moments a coach maybe faced with.
“This is the worst part of the job as a coach. It’s never easy. But you need to leave out smiling faces and skilful players.
“I am not talking about my feelings. There are players I like but are not in my squad.
“I am always talking to my staff to find out about players with good quality. Some (players) are close but not finished.
“But we always monitoring. In football, anything can happen. Tomorrow we can find someone with good mentality and he might be tactically good to play for the Black Stars.
“The African Cup of Nations is a long adventure and we need a squad with good balance, physical condition and tactically good ones too. Because in the squad, some wouldn’t play since some would be substitutes and they need to be good substitutes,” the Black Stars coach told www.ghanafa.org in an interview.
The Ghana coach, however did not give a definite date for the naming of his squad for the training tour.
“I would name my team for the tour sometime soon. Maybe soon but it would be sometime soon,” he said.
“I have a list of players but maybe 26 players would make it to the training tour. I don’t like living out a lot of players but I would still keep some on the waiting list.
“No one knows the final list but I have 35 and we would still look around. I cannot be nice to everyone. There are only 23 seats for the best and that would be three goalkeepers and 20 outfield players.”
The late start of the domestic league is somewhat a bother to the coaching staff of the Black Stars and Le Roy says it’s a terrible situation for everyone.
“The most terrible thing is our local championship (league) just started. It’s a bad situation for us. We would have liked to watch and closely monitor some players over a period but they have just played two games. We are always looking out for the right players to play for Ghana.”
Ghana would kick off the first game of the African of Nations at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra on January 20 against Guinea; a game Claude Le Roy says would be difficult considering the quality of the opposition.