‘No local player can make Ghana's squad to Brazil’

Ex Ghana star Osei Kofi says he will be ‘surprised’ if any local player makes the Black Stars squad for the 2014 World Cup, passing a damning verdict over the quality of home-based players.

Coach Kwesi Appiah will be naming a provisional 30-man squad for June’s tournament in Brazil on May 12.

The squad is expected to be heavily dominated by foreign-based players with only the goalkeeping department holding promise for a local star.

The Black Stars trainer has however assured he will be fair in his selection, especially towards local players.

Ghana-based defenders Abeiku Ainooson, Kwabena Edusei and Nuru Sulley have been mentioned as prospective candidates to make at least the provisional squad following their impressive performances during the CHAN tournament hosted earlier this year in South Africa.

But ex Ghana great Osei Kofi believes no local player is good enough to deserve a spot in the highly competitive Black Stars squad despite impressive performances from home-based players in previous World Cup tournaments.

“I will be surprised if I see any local player in Ghana’s World Cup squad for,” he told Metro FM.

“We all watched the CHAN and even though we made it through to the finals in that tournament we all saw the performance.

“This is the World Cup, meaning it is not the platform for auditioning. It is not like the Nations Cup.

“We are going to compete against the best all over the World and therefore we need to take our utmost best to the tournament.”

Ghana is making only a third appearance at the World Cup finals following progressive stints in 2006 and 2010 in Germany and South Africa respectively.