CHAN team to leave Accra for Abidjan today

The Local Black Stars of Ghana will this afternoon fly out via Emirate Airline to the Ivorian capital of Abidjan ahead of the second leg final round CHAN qualifier against the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire scheduled for Friday.

The game which was scheduled for last weekend had to be re-scheduled due to the general elections in the Ivory Coast.

For the Ghanaian side the postponement came as a blessing in disguise as it afforded Coach Maxwell Konadu and his charges the opportunity to abandon their Obuasi training camp for the soccer facility at Sogakope.

The 15,000 multi-use Stade Robert Champroux in Abidjan venue for Friday’s epic clash is an artificial turf and the players needed to be accustom with a turf of that nature before the game, hence their movement to Sogakope.

According to Chief Bakari, a management committee member of the CHAN team, the side has had ample preparation at the facility and are in buoyant mood ahead of the second leg.

The Star’s will carry a 2-1 lead from the first leg lead into the West Zone B clash with the hope of making it to their fourth CHAN finals after placing second at the maiden edition in 2009 and in 2013 in South Africa.

The winner over the two legs will pick the remaining slots out of the three Zone West B slots available which has Nigeria and Niger picking the other two slots for the tournament scheduled to be staged between January 16 and February 7 next year.