Players who want to go to World Cup should avail themselves for AFCON qualifiers – Yaw Preko

Former Ghana winger Yaw Preko has urged the Black Stars’ technical staff to use the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers as a warm-up for the 2022 World Cup.

Yaw Preko believes that because countries will not have enough time to prepare their teams for the tournament in Qatar, whoever is appointed to lead the Black Stars should view the qualifiers as part of the tournament preparations.

In an interview with Peace FM, Yaw Preko advised that this time should be used to identify talent for the team.

He believes that the process of identifying talent should begin now so that by the time the qualifiers are held, the coach will have a good idea of the players he will need.

He stated that foreign-based players who wish to join Ghana’s World Cup squad should be prepared to compete in the qualifiers.

On Tuesday, April 19, the draw for the 2023 AFCON took place in South Africa, with the Black Stars being assigned to Group E where they will face Madagascar, Angola, and the Central African Republic.

“We’ve been linked with a lot of players. Those who want to go to the World Cup should be willing to play in the qualifiers. They should send them to Central African Republic, Angola and Madagascar.

“They want to play at the World Cup but we also need the AFCON and we must qualify first. We can use the qualifiers as preparations for the World Cup.”

“Let’s identify the talent we will send to the World Cup and use the qualifiers to prepare them for World Cup,” Yaw Preko told Peace FM.

The Black Stars will also compete in the World Cup in November, where they will face Portugal, Uruguay, and South Korea.