Former Black Stars defender Habib Mohammed has reacted to the omission of Jeffrey Schlupp from Ghana’s final squad for World Cup in Qatar.
Schlupp was not included in the final 26-man squad for the tournament despite his impressive form at Crystal Palace in the Premier League this season.
Speaking in an interview, the former King Faisal star expressed his displeasure about the exclusion of the Crystal Palace star from the final World Cup squad.
“For me, Schlupp is the only player his exclusion surprised me looking at his form at club level but I think this is not the time to discuss this. We cannot change anything at the moment but truth be told, Schlupp should have been included in the squad no matter how it is” he said.
Meanwhile, the Black Stars coach Otto Addo has explained why he left out the Crystal Palace player from his final team for the tournament kicking off on Sunday.
“I am a person who’s very much on principles and one principle is that I wouldn’t like them to do to me. So I hope you understand that I would not like to talk about players who are in the squad,” Addo said at the press conference.
“As I said before, I have reasons on and off the pitch which were all communicated to the players so it is between me and the player. For me, that is it and they know why they are not in the squad.
The versatile player last played for the Black Stars in 2017 but was named in the 55-man preliminary squad.
Ghana will open their campaign against Portugal on November 24 at Stadium 974 in Doha.
Four days later, the Black Stars return to action with a clash with South Korea at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan.
Ghana will wrap up their group stage adventure with their much-anticipated encounter with Uruguay at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah.
The Black Stars having missed out in the last edition hosted in Russia in 2018 will be hoping to improve their performance in Qatar after exiting the group phase during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Only three sides from the continent have ever progressed to the quarter-finals; Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002, and Ghana in 2010.
Ghana will be hoping to progress from the group stage at this year’s tournament.