Kwesi Appiah's performance record as Black Stars

James Kwesi Appiah’s two-year record as Black Stars coach saw him record a 44 percent winning rate from the 27 matches he supervised.

It includes twelve wins; ten defeats and five draws in all competitions.

A 7-0 thrashing of Lesotho on his debut on the Black Stars bench in the 2014 World Cup qualifier immediately justified the Ghana FA’s faith reposed in the soft-spoken personality.

He was however brought down to earth in a 1-0 defeat to Zambia in just the following week in Ndola.

Kwesi Appiah had just started work so there was very little to criticize then.

A 1-1 draw with China in an international friendly, went on to beat Malawi 2-0 at home in the first leg of the 2013 Nations Cup qualifier, and lost 2-0 to Liberia in Monrovia in an another international friendly.

The Black Stars most efficient performance under Appiah up to this point was perhaps Ghana’s 1-0 away win to Malawi to confirm Ghana’s place at the 2013 Nations Cup staged in South Africa.

Many got the sense that the team was peaking at just the right time to deliver a belated Nations Cup trophy in South Africa – but it wasn’t to be.

A disappointing 2-2 draw with DR Congo in the opening Nations Cup fixture, a hardly convincing 1-0 win over Mali and an easier 3-0 victory over Niger summed up the not too convincing performance of the Black Stars at the group stage of the competition.

But still there was hope the team would improve as they moved into the business end of the tournament.

It however appeared the contrary; the team scraped through a 2-0 win over a dominant Cape Verde side in the quarters only to lose on penalties to Burkina Faso.

The team never recovered from that defeat to their West African neighbours as they proceeded to lose 3-1 to Mali in the third-place play off.

It was at this stage that the call to have Appiah sacked intensified with many of the critics raising issues over his tactical prowess and player management skills.

And though admitting to making mistakes at the Nations Cup, the 53-year-old was maintained but with some level of skepticism.

Appiah’s response was a comprehensive 4-0 win over Sudan on Ghana’s return to the 2014 World Cup qualifiers in Kumasi but this was hardly enough to sway the larger jury out there in his favour.

He then followed it up with another vital 3-1 win over the same side in the reverse World Cup qualifier in Omdurman.

Then another sterling away performance to clinch a 2-0 win over Lesotho saw the Black Stars overtake rivals Zambia in Group D even before the much-awaited clash between the sides in Kumasi.

Kwesi Appiah then led his side to the great 2-2 comeback draw against Turkey in an international friendly in Istanbul before managing a tough 2-1 win over ‘bogey’ Zambia on its return to the World Cup qualifiers.

The team then slumped to a 3-1 defeat to Japan in an international friendly to prepare the side for the epic playoffs against a resurgent Egyptian side. What a day it was in the office for Appiah and his boys.

The Black Stars run riot as they crashed the Pharaohs 6-1 to effectively kill off the tie before the return encounter was even played.

Ghana eventually lost the second leg 2-1 but secured qualification to the 2014 World Cup with a 7-3 aggregate scoreline.

The Black Stars then started off 2014 on its wrong footing with an ugly 1-0 defeat to Montenegro in an international friendly in March.

It then came to preparations for the 2014 World Cup finals and Appiah fielded a team which lost 1-0 to the Netherlands in Rotterdam on 31 May.

The Black Stars bounced back with a 4-0 win over Korea Republic in Miami, US before flying to Brazil for the World Cup.

Appiah’s was the first local coach to lead the national team at the mundial and his campaign began with a 2-1 defeat to USA.

He then assembled his players to put up a brave 2-2 draw with eventual World Cup winners Germany.

His last match at the tournament was a 2-1 defeat to Portugal in Brasilia to crash out at the Group stage.

Post-World Cup, Appiah began his campaign with an unimpressive 1-1 draw with Uganda at home in the opening 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

Four days later, he picked a squad that laboured to edge Togo 3-2 in Lome.