Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah has hit back at his critics following the exclusion of the Ayew brothers from his squad for the World Cup qualifier against the Cranes of Uganda insisting “There are thousands of Ghanaian players I can select from.”
The former Ghana left back announced a 26-man squad for the must-win encounter against the Red Devils in Kampala without the two sons of the maestro Abedi Pele.
In an interview with the GNA Sports, Appiah explained that excluding the two – Andre and Jordan, was to give opportunities to other equally good players.
The coach invited seven debutants, including two home-based players to augment his squad, as Ghana faces a herculean task of qualifying to the Mundial for the fourth consecutive time.
He said “we know the calibre of Dede and Jordan Ayew already and if we want to build a team for the future, then we need to give other players the chance to also prove themselves.”
When asked whether the duo’s exclusion from the squad was a result of dip in form, he said “no, they are playing well.”
To him, he wants to build a formidable team for the future; hence the dropping of the two England based players.
The coach came under a barrage of criticisms from a section of the Ghanaian populace over his decision to drop the duo because of a feud between Appiah and the father of the Ayew’s over captaincy issues in 1992.
He however debunked the rumours saying, “this has nothing to do with that because there’s no issue.”
Ghana lies third in Group E with five points behind Egypt 9 and Uganda 7, with Congo lying at the bottom with 1 point after four matches played.