The Black Stars technical team has seen a major boost following the arrival of two new coaches to assist Milovan Rajevac ahead of the upcoming Afcon
Ghana Football Association has confirmed the appointment of two new assistant coaches and two scouts to support Milovan Rajevac ahead of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations holding in Cameroon next week.
With the Black Stars currently in Doha, Qatar to fine tune for the tournament, Milovan requested for the quartet to come on board and support him since assistant coach Otto Addo could not join the team due to his role at German Bundesliga side Dortmund.
“The Ghana Football Association has made four additions to the Technical team of the Black Stars ahead of the Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021,” a Ghana FA statement read.
“This follows a request by Clcoach Milovan Rajevac to strengthen the Technical team in the lead up to Africa’s flagship tournament which kicks off on Sunday, January 9, 2022 in Yaoundé – Cameroon.
“The quartet include Mike Stankovic – an experienced Serbian/American football coach, Awal Salifu – a performance analyst of International repute and two scouts.
“Mike Stankovic is a former Yugoslavia defender who played in the Major League Soccer (MLS) for a period of 18 years before taking up coaching in 1991. The former Dallas Tornado player – 65 – served as an assistant to Milovan Rajevac during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where Ghana exited at the quarter final stage after losing to Uruguay on penalties. Mike Stankovich later joined Milovan Rajevac to manage the Qatar national football team in 2011.
“Awal Kamin Salifu –a young dynamic performance analyst was formerly attached to the Right to Dream Academy in Ghana and Nordsjaelland FC in Denmark as Performance analyst. He has varied experience in player performance analysis and monitoring and will be a top quality addition to the Technical team.
“The four Technical brains have already started work with the team in Doha and are expected to bring their rich vein of experience to bear during the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
“The Black Stars who take on African Champions Algeria in an International friendly on Wednesday, January 5, 2022 are housed in Group C with Morocco, Gabon and Comoros,” the statement added.
Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey together with Leicester City defender Daniel Amartey and Crystal Palace forward Jordan Ayew arrived at the team’s camp on Tuesday morning while Andre Ayew arrived later in the day.
Ghana will play Algeria in an international friendly on Wednesday before they depart Doha on Friday with a chartered flight to Cameroon.