Ghana names provisional football squad for Nations Cup

Accra: Ghana on Monday named a 26-man provisional football squad for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) to be held in Gabon later this month. The announcement was made at a press conference by head coach Avram Grant at the headquarters of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) in Accra, reports Xinhua. Former Shanghai SIPG striker Asamoah Gyan will join the team which will leave Accra Monday night for a 12-day pre-tournament camping in the United Arab Emirates where the head coach will pick his final 23 players for the three-week competition. Grants side will be aiming for its fifth continental title since they last won it in 1982. Ghana will play in Group D of the tournament alongside Egypt, Mali and Uganda. They will open their campaign against Uganda on January 17 at Port Gentil. The AFCON tournament, which will have 16 teams to compete, runs from January 14 to February 5 in four Gabonese cities. Ghana were silver medallists in the 2015 AFCON in Equatorial Guinea where they were edged out on penalties by West African neighbours Cote d Ivoire.-Agency