Ghana U-23 coach Ibrahim Tanko says his team is ready for their opening game at the CAF U-23 cup of Nations against Cameroon on Friday evening. 

The Black Meteors have been in Egypt since Monday preparing for the tournament, which serves as qualification for Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.

Ahead of the game against Cameroon, Tanko expressed his belief in his players and says they have mapped out a strategy for victory tonight.

“Though we didn’t get all the players we wanted I believe in the players I’ve invited and I believe they will show what they can do. I am very happy with the performance I’ve seen from them so far”

“On the pitch, we will do our maximum best to win the game. My team is ready and we are to map up a strategy to help us qualify to the Olympics”, the Black Meteors head coach emphasized.



source: Ghanasoccernet

The post I believe in my boys, we are ready – Ibrahim Tanko ahead of U23 AFCON opener first appeared on Sahara Football.

Ghana Black Meteors Coach Ibrahim Tanko has released his final squad for the U23 Africa Cup Of Nations that will take place this month in Egypt.

Ibrahim Tanko included twelve foreign-based and nine locally-based players in his final squad for the tournament.

Three players from Asante Kotoko and two players from Hearts of Oak were included in the final squad.

The post Ibrahim Tanko names final 21-man squad for U23 AFCON; See Full squad first appeared on Sahara Football.

Former Asante Kotoko head coach Charles Kwablan Akunnor is set to replace Black meteors coach Ibrahim Tanko as the assistant coach of the Ghana Senior national team Black Stars.

According to a source close to Sahara Football, the former Black stars captain will be giving the position of the assistant coach of the Black Stars for coach Ibrahim Tanko to focus on the U-23 national team as they prepare for the upcoming U-23 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

The formal Ashanti Gold and Asante Kotoko trainer’s first task as the assistant coach of the black stars will begin in the black stars game against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa on November 14.

C. K has been without a club since he left Asante Kotoko.

The post CK Akonnor to replace Ibrahim Tanko as Black Stars Coach first appeared on Sahara Football.

Ghana U23 Coach Ibrahim Tanko has invited 18 local players to the Black Meteors camp ahead of the U23 Africa Cup of Nations that will be coming off this November.

The team will begin camping next week as they begin preparations ahead of the prestigious competition.

Full squad:

Goalkeepers: Kwame Baah, Richmond Ayi, Danlad Ibrahim

Defenders: Caleb Amankwaa, Frank Akoto, Williams Dankyi, Zakaria Fuseini, Emmanuel Cudjoe

Midfielders: Barmiah Foster, Michael Agbekpornu, Abdul Aziz Nurudeen, Nasiru Hamza, Mohamed Shiraz, Eric Abdul Razak

Attackers: Osei Owusu Evans, Kwame Poku, Eric Dupey, Adiwoh Peter Ernest

The post Ibrahim Tanko invites 18 local players to Black Meteors camp first appeared on Sahara Football.

Hearts of Oak duo Richmond Ayi and William Dankyi have been called up by Ghana U23 coach Ibrahim Tanko to join the Black Meteors squad ahead of the U23 AFCON tournament.

Richmond Ayi who was a backup goalkeeper during the qualification games will be thrilled to join the squad as they prepare for the tournament that will come off in November.

Defender William Dankyi will join his teammate when they begin camping next week.

The U23 AFCON will kick off on the 8th-22nd of November 2019.

The post Two Hearts of Oak players called up to Black Meteors squad first appeared on Sahara Football.

Ghana Black Meteors coach Ibrahim Tanko has revealed that the U23 players were ‘down’ after the 1-1 draw against Algeria at the Accra Sports Stadium last week and he and his staffs had to motivate them ahead of the second leg.

Ghana U23 secured a 1-0 victory against Algeria to qualify for the U23 Africa Cup of Nations on Tuesday night, thanks to a solo goal from Yaw Yeboah.

Ibrahim Tanko stated that they had to psyche the players up before the game because they were ‘down’ and needed all the motivation they could get.

“It wasn’t easy after the first game as most of them were down. It took us two to three days to psyche them up and make them believe that they can beat them in their home ground,” he said.

He also stated that his team will do all they can to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.

“We are doing our best to qualify the team to the Olympic games to break our absence hiatus of the Olympics”

“I learnt a lesson from the first leg and I think that accounted for the victory,” he added

The post It took us 3 days to psyche the players up – Black Meteors coach Ibrahim Tanko first appeared on Sahara Football.

There are reports suggesting that Ghana Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah will reveal the 26-man squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations on Friday 10th May, but assistant coach Ibrahim Tanko has refuted these claims.

Ibrahim Tanko while talking to Nhyira FM revealed that the Black Stars squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations will be announced on Monday 20th of May.

“The list going around is not the official list from we the technical team .Black Stars provisional list for AFCON 2019 will be officially released on Monday,20th May 2019 and it will be first announced by the NC Spokesman, Dan Kwaku Yeboah,” he told Nhyira FM



He also revealed that they have been keeping tabs on Sulley Muntari and Kevin Prince Boateng but didn’t say if they will be in the squad or not.

“I visited Muntari at his club in Spain to check on him but unfortunately he couldn’t play on the day, Kevin Prince Boateng, on the other hand, has moved from Camp Nou for an away game,” he said.



“Calling for an apology is not our interest, Our job is to call good players to play for Ghana. We only need players who can help the country to achieve success,” he added

The post AFCON 2019: Assistant coach Ibrahim Tanko reveals when Black Stars squad will be announced first appeared on Sahara Football.

Black Meteors were outclassed by Asante Kotoko on Sunday in a friendly ga,e at the Accra Sports stadium.

While speaking to the meadia after the game, Ibrahim Tanko revealed that he will invite the services of foriegn-based players to help achieve their goal.

Asante Kotoko put three past Black Meteors in friendly game

“We are going to have some foreign players in the team. This game has given me a fair idea about the team and the players we can work on. Because we only have nine days to prepare for the game. With the foreign and the local players I think we can build a good team” he said

He also added that they might play another friendly before their game against Togo.

“I think by two or three days I will have some of the foreign base players who are already here. And then others will join few days before the game. If I have those who are here and I think we need friendly games definitely we have to play all friendly game before the Togo game”

The Black Meteors will play the first leg at the Baba Yara stadium on the 18th of December 2018 and will play the second in Togo four days later.

The post Black Meteors coach Ibrahim Tanko set to invite foreign-based players for CAF U23 Cup of Nations qualifier first appeared on Sahara Football.