Ghana Black Sharks coach Daniel Kotey Neequaye has gone for experience and youth in his final selection for the second edition of the CAF Beach Soccer Nations Cup. The beach soccer tournament slated for Lagos, Nigeria from the 13th to 19th of December, promises to be toughest yet with a lineup of all the finest teams on the continent vying for just two slots at next year’s FIFA World Cup in the Bahamas.
The Sharks have commenced late camping with regular faces Michael Sema and Alfred Torsu ready to create history in Lagos.
Reigning African goal King, Alexander Adjei will be aiming to protect his 17 goal record he achieved at the inaugural tournament in Seychelles in 2015.
Coach Kotey’s team is mainly made of up of the players who beat Kenya over two legs to qualify for the tournament. Budding young defender Ruben Semabia Larli, goalkeeper Gideon Adjei as well striker Moro Ameenu will be handed their very first major tournament caps. The rest of the team is made up of defenders Aziz Kofi, Innocent Kumensah, Harold Acquaye and Husseini Mohammed.
In-form striker Richard Osai and experienced goalkeeper Daniel Gokah make up the rest of the squad for the tournament. Ghana are still considered underdogs for this tournament especially after being grouped with tournament favorites and hosts Nigeria, Egypt and the Ivory Coast.
The team has to rely solely on government’s $24,000 tournament budget since ever-present sponsors CAL Bank could not offer the Sharks a package for the first time since their sponsorship of the Sharks took off in 2013.
