By AMeenu Shardow
Ghana’s opponents at the 2013 African Youth Championships; Egypt are heading to the tournament without their top striker Ahmed Hassan Koka.
The Rio Ave hitman has been named in the 20-man squad despite not being part of the team’s preparations.
Koka is tagged as one to watch out for in the tournament but could be missing in action if his Portuguese club refuses to release him for the competition which is not covered by the FIFA calendar.
Director of the Baba Pharaohs Ahmed Fawazy is however confident their star striker will be made available by the time the tournament kicks off on March 16 in Algeria.
“All our players are ready to travel to Morocco (for final preparations) other than Ahmed Hassan Koka who will join us in Algeria,†he said.
Koka’s unavailability could serve a massive boost to Ghana’s campaign following its own difficulty with getting its foreign-based players for the tournament.
The Black Satellites are currently without the foreign-based duo of Frank ‘Messi’ Acheampong and Frank Sarfo-Gyamfi after their respective clubs refused to release the players.