The Ghana Futsal team is aspiring to secure qualification for the forthcoming Futsal World Cup, which will take place in Uzbekistan, by finishing in the medal places in Morocco’s Futsal Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON)
The Futsal Afcon kicks-off in Morocco on April 11, 2024, but team Ghana is aiming to leverage on Morocco’s showpiece in order to gain qualification to the World Championships, which takes place in September.
The qualification standards for participation nations from Africa is to finish in a medal position; 1st, 2nd or 3rd guarantees an automatic spot in the World Cup.
Ghana’s team, who emerged victorious over Ivory Coast with a 6-2 scoreline which helped to secure their spot in the tournament, have outlined their ambitions heading into the competition, as revealed by head coach Philip Boakye.
First of all, we had a good preparation in Prampram from the motivation from the President, and now we are in Morocco, Casablanca for supporting from the GFA. – He said
We are here and I think our training is fantastic. Our expectation, to qualify the team to the World Cup and won the AFCON. This is the second time Ghana is representing in the AFCON, and surely we promise Ghanaians that we would surprise everybody and we need Ghanaians to pray for us and support the team for confidence for the boys. We need their prayers and we will win the tournament for them,” He added
Ghana will be competing against other highly qualified teams from across Africa, a significant achievement for the team as they will be making their first appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations since 1996, where they finished as runners-up.
Team Ghana has been placed in Group A of the 2024 Futsal Africa Cup of Nations where they’ll face host and defending champions Morocco, Angola, and Zambia.
Ghana’s daunting task of aspiring for a World Cup place and wining the AFCON means the players had to be put the through their paces and undergo rigorous training sessions, of which a first part of it was undertaken at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram, leaving skipper Timothy Kantanka full of hubris ahead of the competition.
“Three weeks of training sessions from Prampram before coming to Morocco, Casablanca, and the journey wasn’t easy after qualifying from Morroco. It was very tough from the beginning, but now I think we are ready for the tournament. We are telling Ghanaians to expect successful tournament from the Ghana National FUTSAL team. We are qualifying to the World Cup, and after qualification, we will fight for the trophy” – He said
Ghana kick-off the tournament against Zambia on April 11, 2024.
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Story by: Asumugha Whitney Amarachukwu| univers.ug.edu.gh
