England's World Cup opponents in CRISIS as they sack manager just 10 weeks before the tournament

Ghana have sacked manager Otto Addo after falling into crisis just weeks before the start of the World Cup.

The Black Stars face England in Massachusetts in their second game of the World Cup on June 23 and Ghanaian bosses last night took action after a dire run of four defeats in a row - having also failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations.

It leaves the four-time African champions searching for a new manager just 79 days until their opening Group L game against Panama on June 18.

Ghana were beaten 2-1 by Germany in Stuttgart on Monday night - having been thrashed 5-1 by Austria on Friday. That followed defeats by Japan and South Korea in their November friendlies.

'The Ghana Football Association (GFA) have parted ways with the head coach of the senior men´s national team (Black Stars), Otto Addo effective immediately,' the GFA said in a statement on its website.

It gave no further details on a replacement for Addo, or the reasons for the termination.

Addo was on his second spell as coach of the team after Borussia Dortmund agreed to release him from his role in talent development at the end of the season in March 2024. Addo already coached Ghana on an interim basis for much of 2022, including at the World Cup in Qatar, when Ghana beat South Korea but was still eliminated in the group stage.

During his playing career, the Hamburg, Germany-born Addo won the Bundesliga with Dortmund and played for Ghana at the 2006 World Cup.

England, meanwhile, play Japan on Tuesday night in their final send-off game before they head to America this summer.

Thomas Tuchel has admitted that the mass withdrawal of Arsenal players from international camps looks 'suspicious' but is adamant that England duo Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are genuinely too injured to feature against Japan at Wembley.

Rice and Saka have returned to their club without kicking a ball for England after reporting for duty to watch last Friday’s draw with Uruguay. The duo were part of a group of players given time off for that game but were originally expected to play.

But both players left camp over the weekend along with club mate Noni Madueke, who was injured during the Uruguay game. This took the number of Arsenal players to have left national team meet-ups around the world to eleven, raising eyebrows given the Gunners have just lost the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City and have a Champions League first leg against Sporting Lisbon to play next Tuesday.

Asked about it by talkSPORT today, Tuchel said: ‘Everyone can do the math and it's a lot of players, of course.

‘During the situation, it looks a bit suspicious but I can only talk for our players.

‘I still have 100% trust in the honesty of Bukayo and Declan. We did medical tests. I saw them. I have no reason to believe that Declan is not honest with me. I have no reason to believe Bukayo is not honest. But given the amount of Arsenal players, I understand the look.’

Tuchel will field a strong side on Tuesday night after his B team laboured against Uruguay.

Jude Bellingham will not be risked as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury but Tuchel is considering a start for Ben White at right-back.

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