World Cup 2022: Jojo Wollacott ruled out of Ghana squad after finger injury

World Cup 2022: Jojo Wollacott ruled out of Ghana squad after finger injury

Jojo Wollacott, Ghana’s first-choice goalkeeper, will miss the World Cup due to a finger injury he sustained in his final club match before the competition.

Wollacott, 26, of Charlton Athletic, suffered an injury while warming up for a League One game at Burton on Saturday. He was not included in the Black Stars squad for Qatar.

Thomas Partey, an Arsenal midfielder, is one of Otto Addo’s five Premier League players.

Tariq Lamptey from Brighton, Daniel Amartey from Leicester City, Mohamed Salisu from Southampton, Jordan Ayew from Crystal Palace, and others will also be attending the finals.

ALSO CHECK: Otto Addo names 26-man squad for World Cup

Inaki Williams, a former player for Spain who switched allegiance and made his debut for Ghana in a friendly loss to Brazil in September, is one among the 26 players, and captain Andre Ayew is expected to play in his third World Cup finals.

Ghana, the tournament’s lowest-ranked squad, will play Portugal, South Korea, and Uruguay in Group H.

The West Africans advanced to the quarterfinals in 2010, but were controversially defeated by Uruguay on penalties. They then suffered an early exit in 2014 and were completely excluded from the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

All three of Ghana’s games at the earlier edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, as well as both legs of the World Cup play-off against Nigeria in March, were started by Wollacott.

Addo will now have to select between Eupen goalkeeper Abdul Manaf Nurudeen, St. Gallen’s Lawrence Ati-Zigi, and Asante Kotoko’s Danlad Ibrahim due to the injury of Richard Ofori.

In addition to omitting Cremonese attacker Felix Afena-Gyan and Crystal Palace midfielder Jeffrey Schlupp, Addo also left out midfielders Mubarak Wakaso, Joseph Paintsil, and Idrissu Baba.

Uncapped attacker Kamal Sowah joins the team after making an impact for Club Bruges as the Belgian team advanced to the Champions League round of 16.

On Thursday in Abu Dhabi, Ghana will play a friendly match against Switzerland. On November 24, Ghana will play Portugal to open their Group H campaign.

Ghana squad

Goalkeepers: Lawrence Ati-Zigi (St Gallen), Danlad Ibrahim (Asante Kotoko), Abdul Manaf Nurudeen (Eupen).

Defenders: Joseph Aidoo (Celta Vigo), Daniel Amartey (Leicester City), Alexander Djiku (Racing Strasbourg), Tariq Lamptey (Brighton & Hove Albion), Gideon Mensah (Auxerre), Denis Odoi (Club Bruges), Baba Rahman (Reading), Mohammed Salisu (Southampton), Alidu Seidu (Clermont).

Midfielders: Mohammed Kudus (Ajax), Daniel-Kofi Kyereh (Freiburg), Elisha Owusu (Gent), Thomas Partey (Arsenal), Salis Abdul Samed (Lens).

Forwards: Daniel Afriyie (Hearts of Oak), Andre Ayew (Al Sadd), Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace), Osman Bukari (Red Star Belgrade), Issahaku Abdul Fatawu (Sporting Lisbon), Antoine Semenyo (Bristol City), Kamal Sowah (Club Bruges), Kamaldeen Sulemana (Rennes), Inaki Williams (Athletic Bilbao).