Stephen Appiah’s son wants to be better than dad

The second son of Ghanaian football legend Stephen Appiah, Rodney says he wants to surmount the heights his father reached in the game.

Rodney is currently signed on to Great Olympics, as he works his way to featuring for them consistently in Ghana’s top flight.

His father, Stephen started in the local scene with Hearts of Oak before having a highly successful career with clubs in Italy and Turkey.

The ‘Tornado’ as he was affectionately called, played for Parma, Brescia and later Juventus in Italy before representing Turkish giants Fenerbache. He rose to the top of the game in his days playing with the likes of Roberto Baggio, Pep Guardiola, Pavel Nedved and other top stars as teammates.

At the national team level, Appiah played for Ghana from the juvenile stage and historically led the senior national team, The Black Stars to a first-ever FIFA World Cup qualification in 2006.

He is truly Ghana’s football son and cherished across every nook and cranny of the country.

His son, Rodney Appiah who is only 19 years old has set for himself loftier ambitions. He simply wants to go a step higher than his dad’s exploits as a footballer.

In an interview with 3Sports, the youngster narrated his life until now and how his father’s career has been a helpful guide along his own path.

“I was born in Italy, I started my football with the Juventus Academy, with the support of my dad, I really saw myself going to make it,” he said

“I just grew up watching him (Stephen Appiah) and learning from him and seeing how the Ghanaians love him and everything, I also want to play the same way, so Ghanaians love me as well,” he added.

With all eyes watching the son of Ghana’s former captain, Rodney Appiah explains what he has to do to thrive in a highly demanding sport.

“I need to work extremely hard because I’m playing with older people, people who are more experienced and stronger than me so I just need to work very very hard,” he noted.

“I will try my best to do better than him (my father), play well on the field so that I don’t destroy our name or anything like that.

“He (Stephen Appiah) just keeps telling to have fun on the pitch. that I should just be myself and should not try to be like him,” Rodney Appiah told 3Sports.