Appiah demands ruthless Black Stars

Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah wants his players to fight to the finish at all times regardless of whether they are leading by a huge margin. The former Black Stars skipper should know the importance of not taking your foot off the pedal while ahead, after masterminding a 4-2 comeback win over Tunisia on Sunday.

The North Africans were two goals up in the second half before Ghana grabbed the game by the scruff of its neck to score four goals in 24 minutes.


Appiah expects more fight as his charges prepare to embark on a quest for the Black Stars' fifth Nations Cup title this weekend in South Africa.


Good spirit


He insists that to succeed, his stars must "make sure that we play and don't allow them (opponent) to play and secondly to make sure that when you are leading by four you still need to fight until the final whistle."


It was exactly the spirit the Black Stars displayed in their game against the Carthage Eagles, according to Appiah, whose second half changes made the difference.

"It is important that once you are down by two goals you change your mentality," Appiah said after the game in Abu Dhabi.


"I did make some changes in the second half and those who came in, their mentality was very high, and their fighting spirit was very high. As you saw, when we were even leading four goals they were still fighting to try and get more goals and that is what I expect from them."


Good preps


Appiah, whose team also thrashed Egypt 3:0 in another friendly last week, is happy to have been able to give all his players game time as he continues his assessment of their abilities.


"When you 're building a team, you don't concentrate very few players. You are going with 23 players and it is important that each and every player takes part in these trial games." Appiah remarked.

"Looking at the Egypt and Tunisia games, tactically I'm looking at how we attack, how we defend and at the same time, how we construct our set pieces."


Crocked quartet


Meanwhile a quartet of players - centre-half Isaac Vorsah and midfielders Albert Adomah, Rabiu Mohammed and Anthony Annan - all sat out Ghana's training at the Zayed Sports Complex on Monday due to niggling injuries.


All are expected to be fit for the team's trip to South Africa on Wednesday ahead of the start of the African finals.