Press Statement By Stephen Appiah

PRESS STATEMENT BY STEPHEN APPIAH, CAPTAIN OF THE BLACK STARS

I am surprised to have heard that comments I made on a radio station on Saturday have been interpreted as me being unhappy with the World Cup squad released by Coach Ratomir Dujkovic.

Just like any other Ghanaian as I said in the interview, we have personal opinions and as hel eader of the team I shouldn?t have made this public.

I wish to state that I am arrogating to myself the composition of the squad and that responsibility is in the very competent hands of Coach Ratomir Dujkovic.

I wish state emphatically that Coach Ratomir Dujkovic has selected the right players he thinks can help the Ghana to glory after careful monitoring and trials matches, many of which I did not attended.

I have called coach Dujkovic to explain to him what I said in the interview and I am pleased to say that I have his full support.

I welcome all the new and old players to the squad as we begin our preparations towards to our country?s maiden World Cup appearance.

I am pleading with Ghanaians not to let this issue divert attention from the task ahead at the World Cup as me and my colleagues prepare to lay our lives down for the nation.

We need the prayers of Ghanaians be it Christians, Muslims or traditionalists as we embark on this journey of bringing glory to the motherland.

My foreign-based colleagues and I will start arriving from today and together with our home-based brothers, led by the technical team, we will plan on how to defeat our opponents at the World Cup.

We will meet President Kuffuor later this week to seek his blessing and the blessing of the people of Ghana and that of our families before we depart for training camp in Austria.

Thank you.

(STEPHEN APPIAH) 14th May, 2006