I’ll build a strong team for the future - Kwasi Appiah

Newly-appointed Black Stars coach, Kwasi Appiah, is bent on leaving a rich legacy by building a formidable team that can last for the next decade.

To ensure that, he intends to create competition in the team as the first step towards reviving the fortunes of the Black Stars.

Speaking at his official unveiling at the Ghana Football Association (GFA) conference room yesterday, the confident Coach Appiah promised to correct the mistakes of the past whereby the senior national team was built on a short-term basis.

“I will make sure I prepare a team not just for three years but 10 years and beyond which will represent the future.

“It is better to leave a legacy but we must continue with what has been left,” he assured.

“We need to build a strong team. All along we’ve been making mistakes but we need to build a team for the long term.”

He, therefore, dropped the hint of casting his net wide just as his previous stint, by introducing more new players to compete for positions in the team.

“I believe there should be more players in the team competing for positions, with about three players in each position.”

“I want to build a team for the future and I believe there should be consistency in our structure,” he stressed.

Appiah pointed out that he did not harbor any grudge against anybody and was ready to work with any player who is doing well, including Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng, who are currently serving an indefinite ban for misconducting themselves at the Brazil 2014 FiFA World Cup.

The 56-year-old trainer, who just signed a two-year renewable contract with the GFA, stated that one of his ambitions was to build a strong local Black Stars squad which can easily feed into the senior team.

He confessed that he had learnt his lessons and was ready to do things differently this time round in order to get the needed results.

While unveiling the Stars coach earlier, the vice president of the GFA, George Afriyie, emphasized that Appiah was not given the job on a silver platter but went through a process alongside many expatriate coaches and was selected on merit after proving that he was more matured, and had a better idea of the local terrain, among others.

He underlined the FA’s target for the new Stars coach as qualifying for the AFCON 2019, winning AFCON 2019 and also doing his possible best to qualify Ghana to the Russia 2018 World Cup.