Ghana coach Otto Addo has explained why he included defender Jonas Adjei Adjetey in his squad for the 2025 Africa Cup OF Nations qualifying games against Angola and Niger.
The Basel centre-back was handed his maiden call up into the national team to replace Fenerbahce defender Alexander Djiku, who picked up an injury few days to the international break.
The 20-year-old has since been training with the Black Stars ahead of the crucial games. Ghana will take on Angola at the Baba Yara Stadium on Thursday, September 5, 2024, before traveling to Berkane, Morocco to face Niger in their second group game.
Explaining why he invited Jonas Adjetey, he stated, “So Jonas had an extremely good season last year, especially the last six months at Basel and also now started very well in Europe and then we have also players in the local leagues where we think they're closer to the national team and Jonas is one of them”
He continued, “Like I said he is extremely good in winning duels. He's fast, he has good height and very, very good one against ones defensively and he had really, really good games at Basel and at the end we decided for him. He's also a project, he's young, 20 years old he has played with the under 20 national team and so for us we are very delighted to have him here and I saw him in training and he really looked good”
Following this, the team will travel to Berkane, Morocco for their second Group F game against Niger on September 9.
Ghana are aiming to start the qualifiers on a good note as they seek to secure qualification to the CAF’s biggest competition on the continent.
The Black Stars cannot afford to drop points on home turf following Sudan’s opening day win over Niger.
Coach Kwesi Appiah led Sudan to beat Niger 1-0 and are currently on top of Group F.