Executive Council Member of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Dr Randy Abbey believes that Ghana’s participation in the forthcoming U-23 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco will provide another opportunity for Ibrahim Tanko to rewrite the story of the 2019 debacle in Egypt.
Ghana failed to qualify to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games after losing on penalties to South Africa in the 2019 AFCON third-place playoffs, failing to qualify for the competition in the last four editions.
“They were very unlucky in 2019, I mean where we missed the penalty against South Africa, which was quite unfortunate,” he told Citi FM.
“I have chaired the U-23 Committee before; I know how we have always wanted to be at the Olympics. I remember Nigeria drawing us here and denying us a chance to compete some years back under the late Sir Cecil Jones Attuquayefio.”
“I know how important this is. Although we won the All Africa Games then in Maputo; obviously we had wanted to go the Olympics.”
“We have yet another opportunity to do so.”
“I have seen the draw, [it is a] very, very tough group, but I think that the players who have been called up are quite good, and I also know that we are going to augment them with some foreign-based players.”
“I see the technical team very focused, Ibrahim Tanko is someone I know pretty well, he takes his work seriously, together with Godwin Attram and Michael Osei.”
“Despite the fact that it is a tough group, I am confident Ghana will qualify for the Olympics in Paris.”
Ghana will play Morocco, the tournament’s hosts, Congo, and Guinea in group A after qualifying for the 2023 AFCON by defeating Algeria in the last round of qualifiers.
Coach Ibrahim Tanko has named a provisional 29-man squad who are set to depart the country on Monday to continue preparations in Egypt.
Ghana will aim for the first three places at the end of the tournament in order to return to the Olympic Games to be held in France, Paris in 2024.