Black Stars coach Chris Hughton says Thomas Partey missed Monday’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Angola in Luanda due to ‘injury issues’.
The Arsenal midfielder had a great game in the previous fixture in which Ghana recorded a slim win, by virtue of a late strike from Antoine Semenyo in Kumasi last Thursday but was a major omission in the line-up for the reverse fixture which ended 1-1 following a second half strike Osman Bukari to cancel out Angola’s controversial lead.
Partey who captained the team the last time out was expected to lead the team once more following the absence of Andre Ayew, the substantive captain who had earlier been declared unfit for the game.
However, Hughton gave his place to Abdul Salis Samed and the armband to Daniel Amartey, attributing his decision as a careful one.
“Thomas has some small issues, he has some small injury issues and we felt it was too big a risk to start him,” said the Black Stars coach after the game.
In Partey’s absence, the team came from behind to salvage a point kind courtesy a strike from substitute Osman Bukari who turned his first touch into the all-important equaliser.
Alexander Djiku and Denis Odoi as well as Mohammed Salisu were major absentees as well who all missed the trip to Angola due to injuries.
Ghana remain top of Group E with eight points and are followed by Central African Republic who got back-to-back wins over Madagascar to raise their tally to seven points.
Angola follow with four points leaving Madagascar bottom of the table with just a point.
