[ 2014-02-06 ]

Appiah happy with Black Stars squad balance
Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah believes the availability
of some experienced players in his squad gives him
the perfect balance going into the World Cup.

Lots of youngsters have made the transition in
recent times into the Black Stars under Appiah and
most are still learning the ropes of playing at
the big stage.

Appiah stresses that having a number of players
who have been involved in previous World Cups is
invaluable to Ghana's third-straight appearance.

Ghana will have to deal with Germany, the United
States and Portugal to advance from the group
stages when the competition starts in Brazil later
in June of this year.

"The good thing about having experienced players
is that at this high level, you need players of
high, high confidence to hold on to the ball,"
Appiah said.

"And at the same time you need young players who
can also do the runs when needed, and fight and do
some dirty work, and you have some experienced
ones to finish it up."

A combination of youth and experience has
certainly served Appiah well but the Ghana coach
is not scared to leave out big names if it will
serve his team well in Brazil.

"After the Cup of Nations, many of them – I took
about ten young players who had never been to any
competitions before – their confidence levels
rose. And since then we’ve started winning all
our games. Going to the World Cup, I know it’s
not going to be easy. But saying that, the good
thing is that my players are all playing at
high-class teams, and for that reason there
won’t be any panic, the confidence levels are
also high, and I have a very good bench as well.

"I believe we have got very good players and as I
said, any good team is a team that has a very good
bench. I believe we will surprise the world," the
Ghana coach said.

Source - Ghana FA

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