AFCON 2025Q: ”It’s a big loss” Gideon Mensah bemoans mass Stars withdrawals

Ghana defender Gideon Mensah has said the eight players who have withdrawn their services from this month’s AFCON 2025 Qualifiers will be a ”big loss”.

On Monday, the Ghana Football Association announced that eight players; Tariq Lamptey, Alexander Djiku, Jonas Adjetey, Jerome Opoku, Ibrahim Osman, Osman Bukari, Inaki Williams and Joseph Paintsil, had pulled out of this month’s qualifiers against Angola and Niger.

While seven out of the eight players said they were injured, Joseph Paintsil turned down the invitation due to ”personal reasons.”

Gideon Mensah, who was part of eight players who turned up for Monday’s opening training session at the Accra Sports Stadium, said his absentee teammates would be missed.

”For me, I think every player on the national team is crucial to the team. Obviously, we have players that we are always looking to see in the national team and we have players that are also there to support when the other players are not there.

Beyond that admission, the Auxerre defender remains optimistic that the Black Stars would have enough for the games against Angola and Niger.

”It is a big loss for us but at the end of the day, we also have a team to cover up. I am not really scared about that but like I said everybody is crucial to the team so if one player is not there, one will be there to play so…”

Ghana will face Angola on November 15 in Luanda, before returning to face Niger in Accra three days later.

The four-time African Champions are third in Group F, having amassed two points after four games.