By Dom Agbakpe,

The Black Meteors of Ghana 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifier vs the Hawks of Togo has been deferred to Dec 18, 2018.

This was at the request of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Normalisation Committee headed by Dr. Kofi Amoah.

The new date is to allow the U-23 men’s football team to prepare well enough for the game.

Ghana was due to play Togo Friday over two legs – Nov 12 and 20 in the Olympics qualifiers but will now face their cross-border neighbours at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi on Dec 18 with the second coming off in Lome on Dec 22.

Newly-appointed coach Yusif Abubakr is yet to officially announce his squad for the continental game.

The winner of that tie will move to the next stage where countries like South Africa, Congo, Nigeria and Senegal have been drawn for the second round.

Out of the thirty countries line up for the qualifiers, only seven will join host, Egypt at the age-restricted competition planned to start on June 3 to 11, 2019.

The top three countries will automatically qualify to represent the continent at the 2020 Olympic Games football tournament in Tokyo, Japan.

Ghana hasn’t qualified for the competition since the format was changed in 2011.