Ahinful rues Schlupp’s absence after Rahman injury
Former Black Stars striker, Augustine Ahinful, believes Ghana would pay the price for dropping Crystal Palace left back, Jeffery Schlupp, following an injury to Baba Rahman at the ongoing AFCON 2017.
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Rahman, a Schalke 04 loanee from Chelsea, got injured during the Stars 1-0 win over the Cranes of Uganda in their opening match at AFCON 2017 in Gabon and was replaced by Frank Acheampong. However, the former Ghanaian international thinks Schlupp would have been a better option.
Ahinful, who was speaking to the Graphic Sports in an interview yesterday said, "I was surprised Avram Grant excluded Jeffery Schlupp from the AFCON squad. He was one of the players I expected to make the team for the tournament".
"Although Acheampong can play in that position, I believe Schlupp would have been a better option but we can only support him to excel at the competition," he added.
When asked about the team's chances at the continental competition, Ahinful explained that the Stars must work extra hard to improve upon their performance against Uganda if they are to stand a chance of winning the competition.
He stressed on the need for the players to step up their game since the Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON) required such performances to enable the Ghanaians to stand tall and conquer the continent.
Talking about Ghana's chances of qualifying from Group D, the former Trabzonspor forward said the team cannot exit the group stage after winning their first match but advised the Stars to play compactly in their next games against Mali and Egypt.
Ghana leads Group D with three points, with Mali and Egypt joint in second with a point each, while Uganda are bottom with no point.
