<<Print>>The Black Stars will be out to exact revenge for the painful loss they suffered at the hands of the Teranga Lions of Senegal at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations tournament when they clash tomorrow at the Oceane Stadium in Le Havre, France.
The Stars lost 1-2 to Senegal in the opening Group C game of the tourney at the Estadio de Mongomo in Equatorial Guinea despite taking an early lead through a penalty scored by Andre Ayew.
The Senegalese carried the game through a late winner by substitute Moussa Sow, scoring after Mama Biram Diouf scored the equaliser. Over a month later, Senegal have a new coach in former captain Aliou Cisse, who has handed Besiktas forward, Demba Ba, a recall for tomorrow’s friendly encounter.
Ba is likely to be partnered by deadly Southampton forward Sadio Mane in attack with West Ham's Cheikhou Kouyate bossing the midfield, behind them. In the lead-up to the tie, both squads have been hit by withdrawals with Senegal losing goalie Lys Gomis to injury, while Ghana replaced Baba Rahman and Mahatma with Atlanta forward Richmond Boakye-Yiadom, and Chicago Fire's David Accam.
The friendly also presents Stars coach, Avram Grant, with a golden opportunity to start laying the foundations of a solid team that will end Ghana's 33-year wait for the continental trophy.
One of the key issues on Grant's mind will be finding a suitable back-up for skipper Asamoah Gyan, with youngsters such as Italy-based Richmond Boakye-Yiadom and Ebenezer Assifuah keen to make a positive impression on the Israeli trainer in spite of the presence of players such as Jordan Ayew and Kwesi Appiah.
In midfield, Grant will have the opportunity to assess Italy-based Alfred Duncan and Club Africaine's Seidu Salifou, who will be joining the Stars for the first time.
Both Salifou and Duncan, who have made 18 appearances for Sampdoria in the Italian Serie A , be vying for the defensive midfield roles that were occupied by Afriyie Acquah and Mubarak Wakaso at AFCON 2015.
In defence, Leicester City's Jeffrey Schlupp returns to the team after missing the AFCON 2015 through injury, while Daniel Amartey and John Boye are expected to continue their running battle for who partners Jonathan Mensah in central defence.