EXCLUSIVE: Ghana to play two friendlies in October ahead of 2018 World Cup qualifiers
Ghana's national team the Black Stars are seeking to play two friendly matches in October to whip Avram Grant's side into shape before they start the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, GHANAsoccernet.com can exclusively reveal.
The two matches will be played between 5 to 13 October most likely in Europe, Ghana's leading football news website GHANAsoccernet.com can authoritatively reveal.
The Black Stars will have the FIFA international friendly match window to play in two friendly in October because they have been exempted from the first round of qualifiers for the World Cup in Russia.
Twenty six African countries will be engaged in the first round of qualifiers which means the remaining countries in African will be free to play in international matches to prepare for the start of the second round of qualifiers.
The Black Stars are most likely to play African opponents in Europe because of the ease of travel and availability of facilities during that period.
The two matches will give coach Grant to observe some players on the fringes of the squad while rehearsing his tactics for November when they face to winner of the tie between Comoros and Lesotho in the second round of qualifiers.
There will be three rounds of qualifying for the African sides seeking to reaching the 2018 World Cup.
Round one features the lowest 26 ranked countries on the continent in Fifa's July rankings.
The winners of those ties advance to round two where they will join the remaining 27 highest-ranked teams.
In the final round, five groups of four teams will meet both home and away and the winner of each group will qualify for Russia 2018.
The two-leg first-round ties are scheduled between October 5 and 13 with the second-round fixtures between November 9 and 17 this year.
Places in the group stage await the 20 second-round winners with the five table-toppers going to Russia.
20 winners of the second round will form five groups of four teams who will meet both home and away.
Matches to be played between 3 October 2016 and 14 November 2017.
The five group winners qualify for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia.
Africa has been allocated five spots in the finals, which will be played in Russia from 14 June to 15 July.
Comments
This article has 0 comment(s) , give your comment