Black Stars thriving on player competition

Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah is eager to keep the competition for places in the team high with emerging new talent in the Black Stars.

The depth of Ghana footballing talent was on show last Friday in the qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup as the Black Stars produced a fine team performance to thrash Lesotho 7-0 in Group D.

Jordan Ayew scored his first goal in the national shirt while newcomers Christian Atsu and Jerry Akaminko scored their debut goals on the night.

As Ghana's team continues to evolve under Appiah, the Black Stars coach is happy with the performance and believes that the players played for their future.

“I made them aware that this [Lesotho game] was my first game and this was an opportunity for some of them as well so they should try and prove that given the chance they can also play,” Kwesi Appiah said after the game against Lesotho.

“So they were more like playing the game for me, themselves and for the nation.”

After seeing his team maul Lesotho, a calm Appiah says his focus is Ghana's next game against Zambia.

“It’s really good considering that fact that we were playing at home and got a lot of goals and tactically they played according to how I expected them to play.

“Even though we got some goals here, I am not looking at the goals, I am looking at how best we can perform in Zambia,” he said.

Ghana play Zambia in Ndola on Saturday after winning their opening group match at the Baba Yara Stadium.