Head coach of Ghana’s senior national team, the Black Stars, Charles Kwablan Akonnor will finally take charge of his first in November 2020 when the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers resume.
The Emergency Committee of the Confederation of African Football(CAF) has decided that the remaining four qualifying rounds to Cameroon 2021 will be cleared with doubleheader games during the international windows in November 2020 and March 2021.
The schedule for the battle for spots to the 2021 Afcon had to be revised due to the COVID-19 outbreak which halted many sporting activities across the continent and beyond for since March.
Ghana got their Cameroon 2021 Afcon qualification campaign off to a perfect start in November 2019 with back-to-back victories over South Africa at home and then Sao Tome and Principe on the road.
The Black Stars were just about a fortnight away from playing Sudan when Caf was forced to postpone the qualifiers indefinitely. This also denied new coach Akonnor, who had been appointed in January, his debut
Part of a Caf statement Wednesday said: “For Cameroon 2021, the qualifiers resume on 9-17 November 2020 with the Day 3 & 4 matches whilst the penultimate and ultimate matches take place on 22-30 March 2021.”
With the latest development, Ghana will be expecting to put qualification from Group C firmly in control with the scalp of Sudan who they first host (likely at Cape Coast Stadium) on Friday, November 13. The reverse tie comes off in Omdurman three days later.
The penultimate and ultimate group qualifiers – away to South Africa and then Sao Tome at home respectively – will come off between March 22 and 30.
The top two teams from Group C will pick slots to the Cameroon Afcon which has been moved from January 2021 to 2022 due to COVID-19.
Below is Akonnor’s debut Black Stars call-up earlier in March this year:
