adminACCRA. — Ghana captured the hearts of Africa and beyond as they swaggered into the 2010 Fifa World Cup quarters with flashy football and funky goal celebrations.
James Kwesi Appiah witnessed the Ghanaian heartbreak in South Africa first-hand, as an assistant to Serbian Milovan Rajevac, and in 2012 he assumed the reins himself — amid sizeable scepticism.
Yet the former Ghana defender has silenced critics of the appointment of an inexperienced, non-foreign coach by directing the four-time African champions to Brazil 2014 in emphatic style.
FIFA.com: You were the assistant in 2010. What was the atmosphere like after the penalty shoot-out loss?
Kwesi Appiah: It’s something that I know most Ghanaians would not like to revisit because it broke their hearts. Not only Ghanaians — I believe all Africans were behind the team at that particular time. But we have got to move on. Our captain today, he didn’t convert that (penalty), but it happens — it could happen to any player. Fine, if we had won that penalty (shoot-out) we could have won the (World) Cup that very year. But we’re trying to put that behind us and move on from it.
What positives can you take from South Africa 2010 and what will you look to do differently in 2014?
After the World Cup in 2010, I’ve come to believe that if you have some players and you give them the confidence needed, the encouragement needed, automatically they will rise to the occasion. Football is of age. It’s not like before — you mentioned about four, five countries, and you think they are going to win automatically. I believe that looking at the quality of players we have at the moment, the most important thing is how we can psyche them up, how we can force them to push themselves and fight to defend the flag of Ghana.
Ghana had foreign coaches at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. What advantage is it having a Ghanaian coach?
The good thing is, the calibre of players that we have at the moment, they all have total respect for me and I also have 200 per cent respect for them. They’ve been so competitive, very disciplined, and their willingness to die for the nation is really, really high compared to when I was the assistant in 2010.
African teams have historically favoured having foreign coaches at World Cups. You must feel immensely proud to be leading Ghana to Brazil 2014…
It’s not just about me — all Ghanaians (feel proud). I was speaking to (Nigeria coach) Stephen Keshi. I believe that all Africans feel proud. When you’re given the chance to prove what you can do, and you get the support and the encouragement from the management . . .
Automatically there’s nothing that a Ghanaian, an African (can’t do) that any other human being can do. Saying that, the most important thing is making sure that you get the respect from your players.
How would you describe yourself as a coach?
I’m a coach who doesn’t talk that much — the players call me a silent killer. The reason being that I have total respect for them, but I always make sure that each and every player does what is right at the given time.
You have a vastly experienced squad, with a number of players who have been involved in previous World Cups. How much of an advantage is this?
The good thing about having experienced players is that at this high level, you need players of high, high confidence to hold on to the ball. And at the same time you need young players who can also do the runs when needed, and fight and do some dirty work, and you have some experienced ones to finish it up.
How far can Ghana go at Brazil 2014?
I believe we have got very good players and as I said, any good team is a team that has a very good bench. I believe we will surprise the world.
How big is football in Ghana and what does football mean to Ghanaians?
Football is something that every Ghanaian, every kid (loves). And that makes coaching Ghana difficult because every kid, every man and woman, is a coach (laughs). And apart from that, football is the only thing that unites the country, because there’s so (many) political things going on. But whenever there’s football, everyone throws away his political ambitions and puts himself behind the team.
Ghanaians love football to the extent that they will do anything to get what they want when it comes to football. — Fifa.com
Online Reporter