Coach Annor Walker has explained why Hearts of Oak defender, Mohammed Alhassan has been excluded from the Black Galaxies provisional squad for preparations ahead of the CHAN 2023 tournament in Algeria.
Alhassan has not been selected to start preparations with the home-based national team, with manager Annor Walker opting for other players in his 40-man provisional squad over the Phobian defender.
The former WAFA player was among the squad that helped the team to book qualification over Benin and Nigeria, but he still hasn’t performed well enough this season in the GPL to earn a place in the squad, according to Annor Walker.
However, the player’s lack of selection might not come as surprise. Alhassan has featured in just three Premier League games in the ongoing campaign for Hearts.
He did score against Benin during the qualifiers, but hasn’t done enough since to stake a claim for another shot in the squad with his current situation at Hearts of Oak.
Annor Walker in an interview on Saturday morning said: “Yes, I have invited 40 players. I am monitoring their performances. Some will be omitted and will be replaced by others. If Mohammed Alhassan is not part of the squad it is my own decision. I don’t understand why people are talking about it. Almost five players have been excluded, but why will they talk about Mohammed Alhassan’s exclusion only? To be honest, Mohammed Alhassan has failed to have an enough playing time of late. Even Vincent Atinga’s name is missing from the squad but no one is asking about his exclusion. There’s no problem,” he told Ghanasportspage.com.
Ghana will begin preparations in due time for the seventh edition of the CHAN tournament to be held in Algeria from January 13th to February 4th, 2023.
They will need to navigate past Morocco, Sudan and Madagascar in order to make it out of Group C.
