Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah says the performances of his players
were good enough irrespective of losing 1-3 to Japan. Ghana who played
with a weakened team took the lead in the first half before conceding
three goals after recess in Yokohama. Coach Appiah was without most of
his star players who withdrew based on varied reasons after they beat
Zambia 2-1 in a 2014 WC qualifier last Friday. "To build a team it is
important to play against top teams as Japan. I was very positively
impressed by the performance of my players, they all did well, but at
this level if you lose concentration you do face a big blow, but
performance- wise it was a good game us," the former Black Stars
captain said at the post match conference. "I believe that Japan is a
very good team, all of the players are very good, I don't think it is
fair to talk about a single player, but Kagawa is a very good player,
everybody knows that. When asked why he played full back Harrison
Afful in midfield, Kwesi Appiah said the Esperance player is a utility
player and did very well in his unusual role against Japan. The Black
Stars will next gather in October when they take on a yet-to-be known
opponent in the Africa play- off's for a place at the 2014 WC in
Brazil.
