Sports News of Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Source: citifmonline.com
Head Coach of the Black Stars, Avram Grant, has defended his decision to have the senior national team hold their pre-tournament preparations in Spain ahead of the AFCON, which commences later this month.
The coach’s decision to have the team camp in Spain raised eyebrows within Ghanaian football circles with critics saying that the temperature disparities between the camp in Spain and Equatorial Guinea would affect player performance.
It is also widely known that the Ghana Football Association favoured a camping base in Abu Dhabi, but had to amend their plans at the request of the coach.
Elaborating on the issue, Grant revealed that the location chosen not only made sense from the proximity angle, but also enabled players based in Europe the opportunity to gather the needed match sharpness required for such a tournament.
“We picked south of Spain because we need to train and train well.
“Few of the players are playing, but many of the squad have not been in action over the last two months.
“We were looking for a place where we could train in good weather, so the south of Spain was good because it’s not too cold and not too warm.
“Our players will have to train twice a day and we have good weather, so I think this is the best option,” he told reporters before the team departed for their training camp on Sunday.