Ghana to swiftly name new coach

Ghana FA boss Kwesi Nyantakyi says a new coach for the Black Stars will be swiftly named to ensure stability before the 2014 World Cup qualifiers start. The leaders of the country’s federation insist a competent replacement will be found as Akwasi Appiah has been put in charge of the squad on temporary basis. This comes after Serbian coach Goran Stevanovic was sacked from his position on Monday after failing to win the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. Ghana spent months in getting to the decision to hire Stevanovic after perusing the profiles of several coaches who applied for the post. But with just three months before the start of the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup and with qualifiers for the 2013 Nations Cup due to start in September, Nyantakyi says a quick decision on the next coach is needed. “The two competitions are very important," Nyantakyi said. "We need to work very hard to get a competent replacement who would get ample time to prepare the team prepare for the competitions." Ghana chose to dismiss the Serb with ten months left on his contract on Monday.

His downfall came after losing the 2012 Nations Cup semi-final to Zambia, the sole competitive defeat his side suffered during his reign. Stevanovic, a former Yugoslav international and championship winning coach with Partizan Belgrade, was the third successive Serbian in charge of Ghana and had been expected to build on the work of compatriots Ratomir Dujkovic and Milovan Rajevac.

Although Ghana looked impressive in their qualifying campaign last year, they were unable to end a 30-year wait for Nations Cup success at the 2012 tournament co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.