Ranking and home advantage means nothing for Appiah

Most established national teams meeting less-fancied sides in qualifying campaigns dream of advancing but not with Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah, who is aware of the tricky nature of the modern game.

Ghana have two competitive games coming up later in September and October to determine their place in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

Appiah insists they will brace themselves for a tough qualifying contest when the Black Stars come up against Malawi, who are 22 places below Ghana on the African ranking table.

The statistics mean nothing to the Ghana coach.
“Malawi is a very good side and underestimating them could be deadly. We played against them during our build up for the Gabon and Equatorial Guinea Nations Cup and they proved to be a very good side,” the Ghana coach said in an interview with GNA.

The Black Stars will be playing at home first on September 9 against a side who have only made the Nations Cup twice in their history.

However, Appiah is not counting on home comforts to determine the outcome of the tie for a place in the finals of the 2013 Nations Cup.

“The fact that we are playing at home first does not give any superior advantage. These days playing at home does not give any team a special edge. We will need to prepare very well for the game because our

appearance at the South Africa tournament will depend on the outcome."

“Any teams who have made it to this stage must be good enough and we will walk into the game with such an approach and our sight on good results and qualification,” Appiah added.

Malawi will be at home in the return game scheduled for the weekend of 12-14 October.

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