Athletic Club striker Iñaki Williams and seven other players including Joseph Paintsil have withdrawn from the Black Stars’ qualifier against Angola.
While most of them cited injury, Paintsil said his decision is personal.
This was confirmed by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) on Monday as camp opens.
Black Stars begin training in Accra ahead of Angola AFCON 2025 qualifier
The other players are Tariq Lamptey, Jonas Adjetey, Jerome Opoku and Antoine Semenyo.
The rest are Alexander Djiku and Ibrahim Osman.
For Williams, the reason is a hamstring he picked up on Thursday, November 7 in Bilbao’s 2-1 away win over Ludogrets in the UEFA Europa League.
For defender Lamptey, he is said to be suffering a calf discomfort “that got aggravated last week and currently undergoing rehabilitation with his club”.
According to the GFA, Jonas was on his way to full recovery but had a setback in their last League game on Saturday, November 9.
Jerome has a chronic back pain which got worse during a Super Lig game against Besiktas on Sunday.
He is currently undergoing rehabilitation with his club, according to the official statement.
AFC Bournemouth’s Semenyo is said to be nursing an injury of the patella tendon due to overload of games.
The club’s medical team thought it wise to use the break to refer him to a tendon specialist to prevent worsening of the injury.
For Djiku, who was named Deputy Captain by Otto Addo in his press briefing on Thursday, there is an aggravation of an existing hamstring that got him substituted in Fenerbahce’s last game on Sunday, November 10.
Finally, Feyenoord’s Osman picked up a hamstring injury in his last outing for the Rotterdam-based Eredevisie side, getting him even substituted at half time.
