Coach of the Senior National Football Team, the Black Stars, Kwesi Appiah after announcing his 26-man squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup has admitted that selecting a team for major tournaments is the most challenging moment in coaching.
According to him, despite selecting 26 talented players, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) only requires 23 players for the upcoming tournament which is to be staged in Brazil.
“Even with these 26 players, I have to prune the number to 23 by 2nd of June to FIFA. As coaches, this is one of the most difficult challenges we face. Selecting your starting 11 as a coach is also difficult,” he told Ghana’s ace morning show presenter, Kwami Sefa Kayi.
Coach Kwesi Appiah noted that, notwithstanding his obvious selection of foreign based players, Ghana is blessed with young and talented local players for future use.
Among the 26 man provisional squad selected, only Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari are the only players in the squad who will be gunning for their third consecutive World Cup finals after both featured at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups.
As to whether his picking of the provisional 26man squad was interfered with by any official from the Ghana Football Association (GFA) or the media, he told the host of Peace FM’s flagship program Kokrokoo that “I don’t listen to the media and I don’t listen to anyone. I work on my own. Even if you listen to them, they might not respect you again…they might think you don’t know your job”.
“Once you know in your mind that you are doing the right thing….you carry on with what you doing,” he added.
Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com
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