A bird of bad omen for the Barea of Madagascar as Carolus Andriamahitsinoro, the Malagasy striker playing in Saudi Arabia, is announced as a forfeit for the first match of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification series against the Black Stars of Ghana.
Head coach Nicolas Dupuis says he will have about five local players in his starting line-up as many of his key charges are absent for this huge game.
The game will take place today at the Cape Coast stadium. They are now six Madagascar players unable to participate in this meeting like Alexandre Ramalingom, Thomas Fontaine, Marco Ilaimaharitra and Fabien Boyer.
In addition to these absences which could handicap the Madagscar national team, there will also be the big absence of Abel Anicet Andrianantenaina from the national team following his retirement from international football three days ago and the silence of Remy Vita, a high-level Malagasy defender, playing for Bayern Munich, summoned by the French coach.
For this game, Nicolas Dupuis will have to rely on local players, most of whom are not used to international football.
Dupuis says he will line up four or five local starting players during the meeting with Ghana.
The Barea coach summoned 28 players to prepare for this match but following a high number of withdrawals, he had to summon other players such as Arohasina Andrianarimanana alias Dax, Soloniaina Avizara, Théodin Ramanjary and Mamy Gervais Randrianarisoa.
