Black Stars head coach Otto Addo said it is difficult to compare his current group of players trying to qualify for the 2026 World Cup to the squad he took to the previous World Cup in Qatar.

The former Borussia Dortmund talent coach took charge of a Ghana squad that was the youngest at the 2022 World Cup before stepping aside and then returning for a second stint.

Speaking on a possible comparison between his current squad and the Qatar team, Addo told FIFA, “It’s very difficult to compare the two squads. Most of the players went to the World Cup already, but maybe half the team didn’t.

"So, it’s a different squad. I think we had the youngest squad at the World Cup, but now it’s even younger, and we are trying to build up to the next World Cup, so it was very hard to make these kinds of decisions, but it would have been even harder next year trying to put new players in place.

“We’ve done it right from the start so we can build up over the two-year period. We have to qualify first, and that is going to be difficult, but I want to take the risk to give them this experience of qualifying for the World Cup. But we have to do our own work first, and there are going to be tough matches, and we’ll also have to qualify for the AFCON. We were behind, but now we’re in a better position.”

In his first two competitive games in March, the Black Stars beat the Central African Republic and Mali to go level on points with Comoros. Otto Addo adds that the current team has a lot to improve upon.

“I think there’s much to improve. We have a lot of young guys that need to get experience. It’s not comparable to the squad we had in 2014, for example, when we had players like Michael Essien, Asamoah Gyan, Sulley Muntari, and Kwadwo Asamoah. They were regulars at Champions League level for big clubs like Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan, and Real Madrid.

“This squad can get there, but they’re not there yet, and I’m trying to help them get there. They have time because they’re still young, so I’m hoping they will develop to get to that stage, and once we get there, we’ll be on a different level.”