Appiah's Stars get cracking - Lesotho in trouble, he says

Black Stars coach Kwasi Appiah says winning against Lesotho on June 1 in their opening World Cup qualifying campaign, remains the team’s focus as they began their preparations last Monday.

While the June 9 date with African champions, Zambia in Lusaka looms large because of their recent Nation Cup clash, the Stars coach insists the game against Lesotho can not be overlooked as it is as important as the Zambia game.

Appiah, who supervised his first training with the Stars at the Accra Sports Stadium, said winning at home against Lesotho was as crucial as getting a good result against the other contenders in the group.

As he prepares his team for his first assignment in charge of the Stars, Appiah is also determined to start on a winning note especially at his favourite grounds where he earned his legend status as a club player with Asante Kotoko.

“Yes, it is important that people talk about Zambia, but for us, the Lesotho game is the business we have to take care of first. There are many reasons why the opening game will be very important and crucial. The Kumasi factor where I played with Asante Kotoko as well as the fact that it will be our very first competitive game since our Nations Cup disappointment. Personally, it is a very important start point as it will be my first test.

“Lesotho could be our making or undoing. They are part of the teams we have to play to qualify and so we will treat them as the other teams and we will be going all out because we want to start as strong as we will finish,” Coach Appiah told the Graphic Sports.

While 17 players mostly the local-based team as well as Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu and Dominic Adiyiah turned up for the first training session, yesterday saw many more players reporting for the non-residential camp training.

AC Milan ace, Sulley Muntari, was among the latest foreign-based players to have arrived for training yesterday morning in Accra.

He joined his other team mates in a grueling training section supervised by Appiah and his deputy Maxwell Konadu.

Also present for training was Portugal-based Christian Atsu, who has been handed his maiden call-up, as well as Ishmael Yartey of Swiss side Servette FC and Genoa left-back, Massawudu Alhassan, who featured at the Nations Cup.

Their presence has boosted the total squad to 21 out of the 30 players invited by Coach Appiah, as the Black Stars play in their double-header World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Zambia next month.

Also keen to catch the coach’s eye at training were home-based stars including Robert Dabuo, Ben Acheampong, and Richard Mpong, Ernest Sowah, Emmanuel Clottey, Daniel Adjei.

In fact, yesterday’s training was boosted by the inclusion of Ghana’s foreign legion comprising, John Boye, Daniel Opare, Derek Boateng, Dominic Adiyiah, Samuel Inkoom, Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Daniel Addo and Isaac Vorsah, among a host of other stars.

Missing at the training were first choice goalkeeper Adam Larsen Kwarasey, Olympique Marseille attacker Jordan Ayew, Harrison Afful, Lee Addy, Anthony Annan, among others, who were yet to arrive from their respective European clubs.

The team will continue with their non-residential training sessions until Sunday when they move to Kumasi for the final round of their preparation before their first qualifier.