Accra, Aug. 18, GNA - Black Stars new trainer, Milovan Rajevac says he will not miss the chance to win Ghanaians over with results that will vindicate him.
The Serbian coach, who has been contracted for the next two years, insists results will be the yardstick with which he will be measured beginning from Wednesday, August 20 when the Black Stars line up against the Taifa Stars of Tanzania in an international friendly in Arusha, Tanzania.
"At a point in my time, I was received coldly but not long after, I started producing results and people learned to come around," he said. Mixed feelings greeted the 54-year old's appointment at a press briefing in Accra on Monday but the former FK Borac manager who speaks through an interpreter says "together, we can achieve the dream of qualifying for South Africa 2010 World Cup and making a mark". Rajevac said on top of his priority list was building a winsome team that would be devoid of the apparent lack of depth in the team's attack.
He said he sought to collaborate more with local coaches in his bid to be acquainted with the home based players which, he reckoned, he had minimal idea about.
"I know all the players in Europe very well but the local ones I don't. This is why I have decided to stay here till December to seize the opportunity of knowing these players' mentality, psychology and culture to build a good team."
Rajevac, who previously coached in China, Sweden, Germany, Qatar and Serbia, knows next to nothing about the African terrain. However, he said his willingness to quickly adapt to situations would aid his desire to prove his worth with the team he described as most talented and gifted.
His definition of success will be to qualify the Stars for their second World Cup finals in which the hunger to excel will be supreme. The Serbian said he appreciated too well the expectations of Ghanaians insisting "as long as the players do what they are asked, there is no way we will not be among the 32 teams at the World Cup".
Rajevac's favourite style of play is 4-2-3-1 and he believes a bond with the players to find out their preferred positions will aid his aspiration to leave Ghanaians satisfied with fine results. The coach, who speaks average English language and insists language will not be a barrier to his job, will have no untouchables in the team that is rich with superstars. However, he said, hard work would be the measuring rod for his charges.
Rajevac, a disciplinarian, replaces Claude Le Roy and is tasked with qualifying the Black Stars to the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola and the Mundial in South Africa.
