Appiah, test case for local Ghanaian coaches

Ghana's senior national male soccer team, the Black Stars, will host their Lesotho counterparts at the Kumasi Sports Stadium on Friday in their opening qualifying campaign towards the 2014 FIFA world cup to be held in Brazil.

The encounter will be the fifth between the two countries in the male category 'A' matches in all FIFA and CAF competitions, with Ghana leading the Lesotho national side on head-to-head. It will also be the first competitive match for James Kwesi Appiah since being appointed the head coach of the national team by the executive committee of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) last month. Appiah thus becomes Ghana’s second local trainer for the Stars since 2002 after Emmanuel Akwasi Afranie, who was fired for non-performance.

The 51-year-old Appiah, the 35th national coach since 1958, is a former dependable defender and skipper for the Black Stars; he also played for Ghanaian giants Asante Kotoko from 1982 to 1993, captaining the side for several years and leading it to clinch many memorable trophies. Appiah's current unenviable task is to qualify Ghana and annex the 2013 Nations Cup and, if possible, win the grail and reach at least the semi-finals of the World Cup in Brazil the following year. He comes to the position with much experience cum football wisdom, having been the assistant coach of the side for the past six years. The announcement of Appiah as the new national team coach came as a surprise to many football followers who were rooting for former France International and Chelsea star, Marcel Dessaily, to take over from ex-coach Serbian Goran Stevanovic. The announcement of Appiah as new manager of Ghana, one of Africa's finest soccer nations, was greeted with mixed reactions by Ghanaian soccer-loving fans and the local media, most of whom were highly elated that at long last a Ghanaian had been given the nod to take over from Stevanovic. Appiah's promotion has been hailed by many Ghanaians as timely and a great boost to local coaches who have been craving for a shift in the status quo in the choice of expatriates to lead the national team.

At his outdooring ceremony, Appiah promised to give every Ghanaian footballer the very best of chances to showcase what they could do to help the national team win laurels during his tenure. He is also expected to give more playing opportunities to players in the local league who excel to also don the national colors, as against the old practice of offering more opportunities to Ghanaian footballers plying their trade in European and Asian countries. Last Saturday, the national team trainer, together with his newly-formed technical team, released the final list of 24 players for the game against Lesotho on Saturday as well as the cagey encounter against African Champions Zambia in Ndola on June 9.

The list includes six locally-based players- Daniel Adjei (Liberty Professionals), Ernest Sowah (Berekum Chelsea), Richard Kisi Boateng (Berekum Chelsea), Richard Mpong (Medeama), Emmanuel Clottey (Berekum Chelsea) and Ben Acheampong (Asante Kotoko), a remarkable improvement over the past few years.

"These are the players Appiah should rely on to form the nucleus of his team in the next two years because they are disciplined, hungry for success and as such will poke home chances when they come at the door," opined a soccer analyst on Monday.

Ghana's 24-man squad is minus veterans John Mensah, Michael Essien, John Paintsil, Andre Ayew and Asamoah Gyan, all regular members of the team who are out of next month's double due to varied reasons.

Despite the absence of these key players, most Ghanaians are looking forward to the June 9 meeting with Zambia, the 2012 African Cup of Nations champions, who incidentally eliminated Ghana in the semi-finals of the last tournament co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea earlier this year.

But Appiah insists the team must focus on the first game against Lesotho by winning convincingly to send a signal to the Zambians that they are battle ready for that encounter which promises to produce rare amperage of excitement and display of skills and brilliance.

"Lesotho could be our making or undoing. They are part of the teams we have to play to qualify and so we will treat them as the other teams and we will be going all out because we want to start as strong as we will finish," Coach Appiah told the Graphic Sports last Wednesday.

The Black Stars arrived in Ghana' s garden city, Kumasi, last Sunday night to step up preparations ahead of the double-header against Lesotho and Zambia.

Backed by vociferous fans who are expected to defy any unfavorable whether condition on the day to throng the Baba Yara stadium in Kumasi, Ghana' s second most populous city, to cheer on the team, they will expect nothing but a thumping victory from the Ghanaian side who will be parading first-of-the-water players.

At least, that will give the team a head start in their quest towards a third-straight world cup appearance after their World Cup debut in 2006 and a quarter-final finish at the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

Appiah's success will also justify the craving for a local coach for the Black Stars by passionate Ghanaian soccer fans over the past few years.