Head coach of Ghana’s Black Meteors team, Ibrahim Tanko reveals his target for the TotalEnergies AFCON U23 tournament which will begin on Saturday, June 24, 2023.
The Black Meteors arrived in Rabat, Morocco on Wednesday evening and have been training ahead of their opening game against Congo on Sunday, June 25, 2023.
Speaking to Ghana FA Communication team, Ibrahim Tanko revealed his target for the tournament.
“The target is to qualify to the Olympic games but there’s also a trophy at stake so we are going for the ultimate and in doing so we want to qualify for the Olympic games. We are here to do our job and the best for the nation but we also need the support of Ghanaians.”
He also gave an update on Kamaldeen Sulemana, Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer and Ernest Nuamah who are not currently in Rabat with the team even though they are part of the squad.
“For now I understand Ernest Nuamah is going to join us. The rest will not be able to join so we only have to concentrate on those who are here. We already know Ernest and we’ve played with him during the qualifiers so know he is coming to add some quality to the team. The others were not with us during the qualifiers but we felt they had qualities that could help the team since they are not here we will concentrate on those we played the qualifiers with. We are 100 percent sure that the quality is enough. Let’s hope that we will have all players fit for the tournament.
We hope that on Sunday we will have a good starting eleven for the nation. Participating teams are allowed to register 26 players but we can only present 23 for the tournament. We have 25 players here but we have a couple of days more to train before we make a final decision on the 23 to present to CAF for the tournament.”-he continued.
As part of their preparations for the tournament, the team played two friendly matches and also held various intensive training sessions in Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt.
The Black Meteors drew 1-1 with Egypt U23 in a friendly match played at the Alexandria Stadium on June 15 before a 4-1 win over Egyptian club side Zamalek SC in a second friendly match played in Cairo.
The Black Meteors are in Group A alongside host, Morocco,Congo and Guinea.
Winner of the tournament and the two runner ups will qualify to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games Men's Soccer competition in Paris next year.
