New Black Stars head coach, Chris Hughton has begun his reign with a 25-man squad for the doubleheader against Angola in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The exclusion of some regular names from the 25-man squad has raised eyebrows with questions over why certain players were excluded.

Here are three surprising names left out of Chris Hughton

Baba Rahman

Reading left-back, Baba Rahaman has been the first-choice left-back in the team for a long while.

He was part of the squad for the 2022 World Cup and started two games. He has played seven games since his return from the World Cup and has missed the last four games.

Given that he is a big name at the Black Stars and has had decent game time since returning from the World Cup, his omission comes raises eyebrows.

Baba Idrissu

Real Mallorca midfielder, Iddrisu Baba has been a key component of the Black Stars since his debut in 2018.

He missed out on the World Cup squad through injury. He has returned and played quite a number of games but has not featured in Mallorca's last three games.

This is his second consecutive miss in the squad, something that has never happened since his debut.


Elisha Owusu

Elisha Owusu was part of Ghana's world cup squad. He completed a move to Auxurre right after the World Cup.

He has featured once for his new side but he has become a familiar face in the team which makes his omission also quite surprising.

Fatawu Issahaku

Sporting Lisbon forward, Fatawu Issahaku is gradually picking up form as he has been rotated between the youth side and the first team.

The 19-year-old netted a hat trick for the youth side in a bid win over Aja in the UEFA Youth League.



He has also made cameos in a couple of games for the senior since his return from the World Cup.

As part of his development plan, Fatawu was expected to be in the squad as he has been around for a while now but he was omitted instead.

Richard Ofori

Richard Ofori was the first-choice goalie until his injury ruled him out of the squad for a long while.

After making the provisional list, Ofpri picked up an injury and missed out on the final squad for the World Cup.

He has returned to action but could not make the list for the games against Angola.


EE/KPE