‘My boys did well against Japan’

Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah says the performances of his players were good enough irrespective of losing 1-3 to Japan.

Ghana who played with a weakened team took the lead in the first half before conceding three goals after recess in Yokohama.

Coach Appiah was without most of his star players who withdrew based on varied reasons after they beat Zambia 2-1 in a 2014 WC qualifier last Friday.

“To build a team it is important to play against top teams as Japan. I was very positively impressed by the performance of my players, they all did well, but at this level if you lose concentration you do face a big blow, but performance-wise it was a good game us,” the former Black Stars captain said at the post match conference.

“I believe that Japan is a very good team, all of the players are very good, I don’t think it is fair to talk about a single player, but Kagawa is a very good player, everybody knows that.

When asked why he played full back Harrison Afful in midfield, Kwesi Appiah said the Esperance player is a utility player and did very well in his unusual role against Japan.

The Black Stars will next gather in October when they take on a yet-to-be known opponent in the Africa play-off’s for a place at the 2014 WC in Brazil.