Grant names squad for Comoros duel

Captain Asamoah Gyan will lead Ghana's attack to face Comoros this afternoon while Agyemang Badu has replaced Afriyie Acquah in a strong Black Stars starting line-up for the must-win 2018 World Cup qualifier in Kumasi, GHANAsoccernet.com can exclusively reveal.

The Black Stars captain Gyan has recovered from a knee injury that kept him out of the starting line-up of the first leg clash between the two sides four days ago in Moroni and coach Avram Grant has named him to lead the side.

This means France-based striker Abdul-Majeed Waris will drop to the bench after failing to impress in the first leg in Moroni where he fluffed several scoring opportunities.

Grant also axed Acquah from the starting line up as in-form Udinese midfielder Agyemang Badu will take over the attacking midfield position to support the attack.

The two changes apart, the Black Stars coach kept faith with most of the players who featured in the first-leg even though there were rumours of massive changes in the squad.

Goalkeeper Razak Brimah will keep his place in the post with John Boye and Jonathan Mensah protecting him in the centre of the defence.

Harrison Afful will keep his place at the right back with Chelsea ace Abdul Rahman Baba playing from the left side of the defence.

Hardworking Mubarak Wakaso will partner Afriyie Acquah in the heart of the midfielder with tricky and pacey winger Solomon Asante from the right wing.

Andre Ayew will play from the left wing.

The attack will be led by Asamoah Gyan and Jordan Ayew as the Black Stars push for goals to completely shut down the Indian Ocenan Islanders.

The Black Stars must win the game to avoid any possibility of a penalty shoot-out or being eliminated on a scoring draw after the first leg ended goalless.

Ghana, who sit 147 places above them, failed to make their supposed superiority count as they were unable to break down their opponents over the 90 minutes.

Comoros are 177th in the FIFA rankings, making them the lowest-ranked nation in the continent remaining in the race for Russia, and have never won a World Cup qualifier - reaching the current round on away goals after two draws with Lesotho.

Comoros have not qualified for a major tournament since affiliating with FIFA 10 years ago and are without a win since defeating Seychelles in a 2009 friendly.

However, eliminating Lesotho in the first round of qualifying clearly boosted their confidence and they may fancy their chances of causing a shock in Kumasi.

Ghana's starting line-up: Razak Brimah, Harrison Afful, Baba Rahman, John Boye, Jonathan Mensah, Mubarak Wakaso, Solomon Asante, Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Asamoah Gyan (capt), Jordan Ayew, Andre Ayew.

Do you think this is the best starting line-up for that Avram Grant should use? Do you think Gyan should start? Do you think Acquah should have been replaced? Do you think Razak is the best goalkeeper to start the game? Make your views known in the box below: