Rashid Sumaila Lauds Kwesi Appiah For Black Stars Victory Over Japan

Al Qadsia defender Rashid Sumaila has commended Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah for their impressive showing against Japan in Wednesday's international friendly.

The Black Stars played one of their best games in recent times in their 2-0 win over the Blue Samurai of Japan in a friendly game at the Nissan Stadium.

Despite missing some key members of the squad for the game, coach Appiah was able to get the best out of his young squad as first-half goals from Thomas Partey and Emmanuel Boateng helped the four-time Africa champions to overcome World Cup-bound Japan.

Sumaila reckons the team's display was all down to Coach Appiah's tactical nous: "It was a great game. I thank Allah that we were able to win," Sumaila told GHANAsoccernet.com.

"Japan were good with the ball but we managed to keep them at bay and I must congratulate the whole team for doing a wonderful job. Before the match Coach, Appiah made it known to us that they are very quick so must at all time stick with them, which worked to perfection because we didn't let them have a sniff of the goal area."

"We are a new team but we exhibited high-quality performance and we hope to continue on that trend in our next game against Iceland."

Sumaila was replaced with CSKA Sofia midfielder Edwin Gyasi in the 77th minute of the match.

The Black Stars will play another World Cup-bound Iceland on Thursday, June 7.