Black Queens coach invites 7 professional players
Seven foreign-based players — six known and one yet to feature for Ghana at any level — have been invited to join the Black Queens as they play two international friendlies against France and Morocco next week.
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The six are Elizabeth Addo (Damallsvenskan club Kvarnsvedens IK) and Portia Boakye, (who plays for Turkish side Trabzon Idmanocagi), who both featured for the Queens at the 2016 Africa Women’s Championship. The list includes former under-17 and under-20 team players, Ernestina Abambila, and Faustina Ampah, (both of Belarusian side ZFK Minsk), Sandra Owusu-Ansah and Alice Kusi (both of Lebanon’s Zouk Mosbeh Girls), as well as Grace Adams from University of South Florida.
The seventh player, Gifty Ayew Asare of Northern Oklahoma College, has never played for Ghana and could be making her debut should she be featured.
The seven are part of an 18-member team expected to feature in next week’s friendly matches in France and Rabat, although Coach Mas-Ud Didi Dramani would not immediately reveal the home-based players who would be on the trip.
Speaking to the Graphic Sports last Monday, Queens coach, Dramani said the call-up of the players was to help him assess the players he had available who could fit into his short-term to long-term plan for his team-building exercise.
“We don’t often get such high-profile friendlies to play and with the doubleheader against France and Morocco, there could not have been a better time to check out the players available so as to be able to plan around them,” Coach Dramani explained.
He said given the challenge the two friendlies France on October 23 and — Morocco on October 27 — provide, it was important to have players who had a level of exposure and experience to be able to carry out the plan of the team.
“The Queens’ technical team has been able to assess the home-based players who have been in camp for the past three weeks. But given the fact that we are ready to open up the team to every Ghanaian living everywhere, it important to see and assess the players who are eligible but live outside.
“The main purpose of inviting them will be to assess how they will technically, tactically and physically respond to the challenges of playing high-profile games with minimal days of training,” added Dramani, who faces his first test as Queens coach.