We overlooked local players for technical reasons - Kwasi Appiah

Kwasi Appiah, head coach of the senior national team, has said that local players were not invited for the international matches against Japan and Iceland, due to technical reasons.

Speaking to the press after training, coach Appiah said his technical team did not invite any local player because the domestic league was still ongoing and there was no need to disrupt it with invitation of local players.

He said the two friendlies were not Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) sanctioned games, which made it difficult for clubs to release their players.

Coach Appiah said the technical team had a situation where players in the American league were not released by their clubs because it was not FIFA sanctioned games and they would need the services of their players.

“Players in America and one from Kazakhstan were not allowed to join us because of the situation. We took into consideration players whose clubs were still playing, which included local players.

“We didn’t want a situation where you would invite a performing player or two from clubs and if the results go bad the club would blame the Black Stars handlers or the player, so we decided to avoid that. The team would be away for more than a week, where players would play about four games and it would affect clubs,” he added.

Coach Appiah debunked the assertion that he did not invite local players based on the fact that they were not good and the local league was not attractive.

“It was purely technical, because when I came in my first six months I invited eight or more players to join the team, we believe in giving them the chance to prove their worth, but in this situation we were not ready to disrupt their plans.

“It is not true we called Felix Annan and Kotoko declined but after the American clubs refused, we just decided to hold on with players who were still playing. We have seen some quality players, which we are monitoring and would call them in due time,” he said.

The Black Stars have a double header against Iceland and Japan in June. Both countries have qualified to for the upcoming 2018 Russia World Cup.