[ 2014-06-07 ]

South Africa heartbreak will inspire us - Asamoah
Black Stars midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah says the
Black Stars' heartbreaking exit in South Africa
four years ago can give them the impetus to do
better in Brazil.

Ghana seemed on her way to a history-making
semi-final until Asamoah Gyan missed a last minute
penalty after Uruguay's Luis Suarez had handled
the all on the line.

"We're confident that we'll be able to give a good
account of ourselves," Asamoah told Reuters in an
e-mail interview a month ahead of the tournament.

"We're in a tough group, there's no denying that,
but we going to the competition following a strong
qualifying campaign in which we won five out of
six games," he added.

"It's our third consecutive appearance in the
World Cup finals, we hope to have a long run and
we'll be doing all we possibly can to make that
happen.

"In addition, even more Ghanaians are now playing
in Europe's top five leagues - this international
experience will serve us in good stead." The
Accra-born Asamoah is already a veteran
international at the age of 25, having made his
debut at 17 in 2006. He now has 59 caps, scoring
four times, for the Black Stars and was lauded as
Ghana Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013.

He believes the Black Stars have put their
disappointing exit from the 2010 World Cup firmly
behind them and can draw on that experience to
emerge from their group. But it was heartbreaking
to lose in such a way, he conceded.

"We thought we played well and had done enough to
reach the semi-finals. To come that close to
making history and then see it slip away is
something you don't easily forget," he said.

"However, we've moved on and taken both the
positives and negatives of the last campaign on
board - and now we're fully determined to put our
experience to good use in Brazil."

"If you enter any competition your ambition has to
be to win it, and to do so you need to face strong
teams at some stage. We have shown in the past
that we can perform when others may have written
us off - and we're confident we can do that
again."

Source - MyjoyOnline

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