{"id":251693,"date":"2024-11-15T21:57:53","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T21:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/"},"modified":"2024-11-15T21:57:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T21:57:53","slug":"nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/","title":{"rendered":"Nations FC defender Razak Simpson makes strong statement for local players after impressive Black Stars debut in Angola draw\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u00a0Nations FC captain Razak Simpson delivered a remarkable performance on his Black Stars debut, but Ghana was held to a 1-1 draw by Angola in a crucial Group F match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers at Est\u00e1dio 11 de Novembro. <\/p>\n<p>The 26-year-old defender earned his first call-up to the national team last week, joining fellow local players Isaac Afful and Asante Kotoko\u2019s Emmanuel Antwi.<\/p>\n<p>His standout performances in training secured him a place in the starting lineup, where he played the full 90 minutes, showcasing composure and tenacity throughout the match. <\/p>\n<p>Ghana took an early lead in the 17th minute when Jordan Ayew unleashed a sublime free kick to beat the Angolan goalkeeper. However, Angola struck back in the 64th minute through substitute Zini, who capitalized on a defensive lapse to equalize. <\/p>\n<p>Despite Simpson\u2019s impressive debut and a spirited team effort, the draw means Ghana will not qualify for the 2025 AFCON in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire. This marks the first time since 2004 that the Black Stars have failed to secure a spot in the continental tournament.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0The Black Stars will conclude their Group F campaign on Monday, November 18, with a home fixture against Niger at the Ohene Gyan Stadium in Accra.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0Nations FC captain Razak Simpson delivered a remarkable performance on his Black Stars debut, but Ghana was held to a 1-1 draw by Angola in a crucial Group F match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers at Est\u00e1dio 11 de Novembro. The 26-year-old defender earned his first call-up to the national team [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-251693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nations FC defender Razak Simpson makes strong statement for local players after impressive Black Stars debut in Angola draw\u00a0 - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nations FC defender Razak Simpson makes strong statement for local players after impressive Black Stars debut in Angola draw\u00a0 - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0Nations FC captain Razak Simpson delivered a remarkable performance on his Black Stars debut, but Ghana was held to a 1-1 draw by Angola in a crucial Group F match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers at Est\u00e1dio 11 de Novembro. The 26-year-old defender earned his first call-up to the national team [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-15T21:57:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG-20241116-WA0054.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1067\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/15\\\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/15\\\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"headline\":\"Nations FC defender Razak Simpson makes strong statement for local players after impressive Black Stars debut in Angola draw\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-15T21:57:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/15\\\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":224,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/15\\\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/IMG-20241116-WA0054.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/15\\\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/15\\\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/15\\\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\\\/\",\"name\":\"Nations FC defender Razak Simpson makes strong statement for local players after impressive Black Stars debut in Angola draw\u00a0 - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/15\\\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/15\\\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/IMG-20241116-WA0054.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-15T21:57:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/15\\\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/15\\\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/15\\\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/IMG-20241116-WA0054.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/IMG-20241116-WA0054.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1067},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/15\\\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nations FC defender Razak Simpson makes strong statement for local players after impressive Black Stars debut in Angola draw\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/author\\\/ghanamma\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nations FC defender Razak Simpson makes strong statement for local players after impressive Black Stars debut in Angola draw\u00a0 - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nations FC defender Razak Simpson makes strong statement for local players after impressive Black Stars debut in Angola draw\u00a0 - Ghanamma.com","og_description":"\u00a0Nations FC captain Razak Simpson delivered a remarkable performance on his Black Stars debut, but Ghana was held to a 1-1 draw by Angola in a crucial Group F match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers at Est\u00e1dio 11 de Novembro. The 26-year-old defender earned his first call-up to the national team [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/","og_site_name":"Ghanamma.com","article_published_time":"2024-11-15T21:57:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1067,"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG-20241116-WA0054.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ghana News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/"},"author":{"name":"Ghana News","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"headline":"Nations FC defender Razak Simpson makes strong statement for local players after impressive Black Stars debut in Angola draw\u00a0","datePublished":"2024-11-15T21:57:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/"},"wordCount":224,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG-20241116-WA0054.jpg","articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/","name":"Nations FC defender Razak Simpson makes strong statement for local players after impressive Black Stars debut in Angola draw\u00a0 - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG-20241116-WA0054.jpg","datePublished":"2024-11-15T21:57:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG-20241116-WA0054.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG-20241116-WA0054.jpg","width":1600,"height":1067},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/11\/15\/nations-fc-defender-razak-simpson-makes-strong-statement-for-local-players-after-impressive-black-stars-debut-in-angola-draw\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nations FC defender Razak Simpson makes strong statement for local players after impressive Black Stars debut in Angola draw\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/author\/ghanamma\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}