Rashid Sumaila confident of making Ghana AFCON squad

by Staff Reporter

Wednesday Mar 20, 2019. 09:16

Ghanaian defender Rashid Sumaila has expressed confidence that he will be a part of his country’s 2019 Africa Cup of Nations squad.

The 26-year-old centre-back was not named in the Black Stars’ list for their upcoming 2019 AFCON qualifiers at home to Kenya.

This is primarily because he has seen so little playing time at his Serbian club, Red Star Belgrade.

Sumaila has made just five appearances across all competitions for the club this season, but he believes a strong end to the campaign will be enough to earn a place in coach James Kwesi Appiah’s 23-man squad for the finals.

"I had a tough time last year, a bit of a personal thing there with my failure to play enough games for my club," Sumaila told Happy FM, as quoted by Football Ghana.

"I had some things to overcome in this year, so I had to truncate my holidays to prepare myself well for the remainder of the season and so far I can say that it's working well.

"I believe in my qualities and if everything goes well, I'm hopeful of making the squad. Missing the squad for the Kenya match is a setback which I'm going to work on and turn it into a weapon in my next call-up."

The defender added that Ghana can clinch its first continental title in 37 years.

"It's something that has been lingering on the mind of every Ghanaian but I foresee a brighter competition because looking at the efforts and time the coach has put in shows he wants the same thing as every Ghanaian,” said Sumaila.

"He's trying to blend the team with experience and youth so I'll urge every Ghanaian to rally behind him to achieve our goal. I think his experience in the competition will be vital in helping us win the cup in Egypt."