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Ghana Coach Appiah Names Final 26 For World Cup

May 12, 2014

In the run-up to the World Cup, every country represented is making frantic final preparations. They are also counting down the minutes to the June 2 deadline set by FIFA for all participating teams to submit their final team sheets.  

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It is typical at this point for pundits to put out their own versions of a proposed team sheet whilst some tabloids may even claim these to be the actual final sheets.   

Sahara Reporters can however confirm that Coach Kwasi Appiah has released the final 26-man squad to represent Ghana at the Mundial. His  selection also reflects what a lot of pundits had been projecting.   

In the goalkeeping department, Appiah put the long-drawn debate on whether veteran Richard Kingson should be included to rest. He rather selected locally based Stephen Adams to make the 3-man set for that department.   

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Lovers of the Black Stars are keeping fingers crossed on the defense department. What with being drawn in a group with some of the world's fastest and most skillful strikers. A certain Cristiano Ronaldo comes to mind and makes one wish that Coach Appiah has a game plan in place; and that the department will live up to the billing. Notably though, Leicester City's Jeffery Schlupp has been named in the squad.  

Ghana's boast is primarily on its midfield. Here, Coach Appiah must have had a hard time selecting from an abundance of talent. It is refreshing however to see Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien in the team. Together with the likes of Kwadwo Asamoah and Andre Ayew they just may prove that experience and pedigree do count.  

The love-hate relationship between Ghanaian fans and Asamoah Gyan is not over yet. After missing that crucial penalty which robbed Ghana of a record semi-final appearance at the last World Cup, the Al Ain striker managed to claw his way to win back the affection of the fans and is still the captain of the Black Stars. The arrowhead striker is also the most dependable goal-getter at this point. Controversial Kevin Prince Boateng is also conspicuous on Coach Appiah's final list.  

All in all, an impressive line up, but being drawn in the preliminaries with Germany, Portugal and the USA, the Black Stars need all the tricks in their hat to cause anything close to the stir they caused in South Africa 2010.  

They will play South Korea in a last prep match before emplaning for Brazil on June 11.  Below is the full list of the Final Team Sheet.

Goalkeepers: Adam Larsen Kwarasey (Stromgodset, Norway), Fatau Dauda (Orlando Pirates, South Africa), Stephen Adams (Aduana Stars)  

Defenders: Samuel Inkoom (Platanias, Greece), Daniel Opare (Standard Liege, Belgium), Harrison Afful (Esperance, Tunisia), Jeffery Schlupp (Leicester City, England), John Boye (Rennes, France), Jonathan Mensah (Evian, France), Rashid Sumaila (Mamelodi Sundowns, South Africa), Jerry Akaminko (Eskişehirspor, Turkey)    

Midfielders: Michael Essien (AC Milan, Italy), Sulley Ali Muntari (AC Milan, Italy), Rabiu Mohamed (Kuban Krasnodar, Russia), Kwadwo Asamoah (Juventus, Italy), Emmanuel Agyemang Badu (Udinese, Italy), Afriyie Acquah (Parma, Italy), Christian Atsu (Vitesse, Netherlands), Albert Adomah (Middlesborough, England), Andre Ayew (Olympique Marseille, France), Mubarak Wakaso (Rubin Kazan, Russia), David Accam (Helsinborg, Sweden)    

Forwards: Asamoah Gyan (Al Ain, UAE), Kevin Prince Boateng (Schalke, Germany), Abdul Majeed Waris (Valenciennes, France), Jordan Ayew (Sochaux, France)

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