It was commitment that did the trick -Doya and Appiah

Priar, Oct 9, GNA - Coach Ratomir Djukovic and inspirational Black Stars skipper, Stephen Appiah say it was their total commitment that did the trick for the team's maiden World Cup qualification. The Serbian who made history on Saturday in Praia by qualifying the nation to her first World Cup appearance believes the amazing commitment exhibited by the players during the qualifiers remain their secret success.

"My players displayed a lot of commitment throughout and that, for me is our secret. "They played as a unit with every player doing his best in all the qualifying games".

Doya as the coach is affectionately called, underscored the common desire and purpose to duty of the team contributed to their qualification in a post match interview in Praia on Saturday after the Black Stars defeated Cape Verde in their last qualifying match. "All the players like myself wanted to make history for ourselves and the country. The players were very dedicated and purposeful during the matches and that for me helped us a lot".

On the part of inspirational skipper Appiah, to say that commitment, dedication and togetherness remained instrumental in their quest to success is an understatement.

"You could clearly see that this crop of players wanted to make history and therefore gave off their best in that direction". "We always did everything as a team, related to each other as brothers and shared a common bond to duty".

He was thankful for the support they received from the crazy soccer Ghanaian fans saying, "We are very grateful for the support offered us. For years Ghanaians have been relishing the red-yellow-green colours at the World Cup and we are happy to have turned that dream into a reality".

The Stars sparked mass jubilation on Saturday by completing the qualifiers in style with a 4-0 drubbing over Cape Verde in the last match played in Praia in a competition that began a year ago. The Ghanaians finished tops with 21 points in the Group that had South Africa, DR Congo, Uganda, Burkina Faso and Cape Verde vying to pick the sole slot to qualify to the Germany 2006 event billed for next summer.