The midfielder’s name was conspicuously missing once again as Milovan Rajevac announced Ghana’s provisional squad for 2021 Afcon despite playing almost every minute this season in Serie A
Spezia Calcio midfielder Emmanuel Gyasi showed how focused and undisturbed he is despite being ignored for Ghana’s national team provisional squad ahead of 2021 Africa Cup of Nations as his side shocked Napoli 1-0 in Serie A on Wednesday.
Gyasi, who was handed his maiden call up middle of this year by C.K Akonnor, had his fortunes changed immediately after Milovan Rajevac replaced the former Asante Kotoko coach in September.
Although, he was initially part of the Black Stars’ squad named to face Zimbabwe in the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers, he received a message of his drop on the eleventh hour while preparing to leave to the airport enroute to Ghana and has since being ghosted.
In spite of this, he was ever present when Spezia pulled one of the biggest shocks in Serie A this season by narrowly beating Napoli in front of the vociferous home fans at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium in Naples.
After a pulsating opening quarter hour full of actions, Spezia kept their composure and survived all the attacks from Napoli with Gyasi blocking a powerful shot by Hirving Lozano.
Spezia took the lead against the run of play by the 33rd minute through a Juan Jesus own goal.
Gyasi teamed up with Kelvin Amian four minutes later to send into Napoli’s box a teasing cross but the threat was dealt with by Mario Rui.
After the break, Gyasi and his teammates were resolute and defended very deep to keep Napoli at bay. He was constantly tracking back to help the defenders as they held on to achieve a monumental feat before Christmas.
Spezia have now moved up to the 17th position with 16 points, five points above the relegation zone.
GHANA’S PROVISIONAL SQUAD FOR 2021 AFCON
Goalkeepers:
Joseph Wollacott (Swindon Town), Lawrence Ati-Zigi (St.Gallen), Manaf Nurudeen (Eupen), Richard Attah (Hearts of Oak)
Defenders:
Andy Yiadom (Reading FC), Philemon Baffour (Dreams FC), Baba Abdul Rahman (Reading FC), Gideon Mensah (Girondins Bordeaux), Daniel Amartey (Leicester City), Alexander Djiku (Strasbourg), Jonathan Mensah (Columbus Crew), Abdul Mumin (Victoria Guimares)
Midfielders:
Baba Idrissu (Real Mallorca), Thomas Partey (Arsenal FC), Mubarak Wakaso (Shenzhen F.C), Edmund Addo (Sheriff Tiraspol), Mohammed Kudus (Ajax Amsterdam), Daniel Kofi Kyere (FC St. Pauli), David Abagna (RTU), Abdul Samed Salis (Clermont Foot)
Wingers:
Andre Ayew (Al Sadd), Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace), Abdul Fatawu Issahaku (Dreams FC), Kamal Deen Sulemana (Rennes), Samuel Owusu (Al Fayha)
Strikers:
Richmond Boakye-Yiadom (Beitar Jerusalem), Benjamin Tetteh (Yeni Malatyaspor), Felix Afena Gyan (AS Roma), Maxwell Abbey Quaye (Great Olympics), Joseph Painstil (Genk)