Daniel Afriyie Barnieh, an attacker for FC Zürich, has received a call-up to the Black Meteors camp for the 2023 Africa U-23 Championship qualifiers against Algeria.
In February, Ghana U23’s technical team invited 24 players to camp at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram to prepare for the final round of the 2023 TotalEnergies U-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The 21-year-old Barnieh, who joined FC Zürich in the just-closed winter transfer window from Hearts of Oak and made his debut against FC Lugano over the weekend, is the latest addition to the team, which includes Abdul Fatawu Issahaku of Sporting CP, Ernest Nuamah of FC Nordsjaelland, Emmanuel Yeboah of CFR Cluj, and Ibrabim Zubairu of Serbian side FK Jedinstvo Ub.
Barnieh scored in both legs against the Junior Mambas of Mozambique in the second round of qualifiers to help the team reach this stage. The first leg of the final qualification round will take place on March 24 in Annaba, with the return leg scheduled for Kumasi four days later.
The next edition of the TotalEnergies U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, which is a qualifier for the 2024 Olympics Games, will be held in Morocco in June this year. The tournament will determine the African countries that will participate in the Olympic football tournament, with the top three teams qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympic men’s football tournament in Paris; the fourth-place team will compete in the AFC-CAF playoffs to determine the final spot in the Olympics.
Ghana has not secured a place in the Olympic Games since 2004 in Athens, Greece, and missed out on the 2020 Summer Olympics Games in Tokyo, Japan after finishing fourth at the 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in Egypt.
