Waasland-Beveren midfielder Nana Opoku Amponmah believes the Porcupine Warriors have a fine opportunity to prove to the whole world what they are capable of doing when they play the Black Stars in a friendly on Friday at the Baba Yara Stadium.
Coach Ck Akonnor and his charges will host Kwasi Appiah’s side in a friendly on Friday following the cancellation of the Black Stars AFCON qualifier against Sierra Leone by CAF on Tuesday.
And the 22-year old midfielder says the home-based players should grab the chance and ‘probably’ get their breakthroughs since countless people both on the African continent and the world at large will keenly be watching the crucial match.
Speaking to SportsworldGhana.com exclusively ahead of the game, Amponmah said ‘’ I don’t really follow the local league but I know Kotoko to be the greatest club in Ghana so so playing against them will be nice but I believe it is also a very fine opportunity for the players to prove to the world their world who knows most of them might get their breakthroughs from the game’’.
To him, though the Black Stars were originally invited to play against Sierra Leone, the cancellation of the match wouln’t have any impact on how they will approach Friday’s game.
‘’Originally we were invited for the AFCON qualifier match against Sierra which unfortunately has been cancelled but as professionals I don’t think we are going to change our approach against Kotoko, we will face them with the same mentality we were going to give to the Sierra Leone game and get the best result for the team,’’
Black Stars full Squad to face Asante Kotoko
Goalkeepers:
Richard Ofori (Maritzburg United, South Africa), Lawrence Ati Zigi (Sochaux, France), Felix Annan (Asante Kotoko)
Defenders:
Harrison Afful (Columbus Crew, USA), Andy Yiadom (Reading FC, England), Lumor Agbenyenu (Sporting Lisbon, Portugal), Jonathan Mensah (Columbus Crew, USA), John Boye (FC Metz, France), Daniel Amartey (Leicester City, England), Nicholas Opoku (Udinese, Italy)
Midfielders:
Thomas Partey, Mubarak Wakaso, Afriyie Acquah, Christian Atsu, Isaac Sackey and Kwadwo Asamoah, Nana Amponmah.
Forwards:
Asamoah Gyan, Richmond Boakye-Yiadom, Majeed Waris, Emmanuel Boateng, Bernard Mensah.