World Cup 2014: Ghana will play for win, says Appiah

Ghana coach Kewsi Appiah has revealed he has told his side to forget about their five-goal advantage over Egypt and approach Tuesday's World Cup play-off second leg as though they are behind.
The Black Stars cruised to a 6-1 victory in the first leg in Kumasi last month, virtually securing their qualification for next year's tournament in Brazil.
But Appiah said: "I've told the players they have to go on to the Egyptian pitch with a mindset that they are one or two goals down and they have to redeem those goals.
"Egypt are a very good team and we know we will not have an easy game. The best way for us to defend is to attack and that is why we will not sit back, we will go all out for the win."
Continue reading the main story
We will go out and do our best to defend the flag of Ghana
Kwesi AppiahGhana coach
Appiah has been boosted by the return of fit-again Kevin-Prince Boateng and Harrison Afful, who was suspended for the first game.
And the coach also revealed that Ghana's one injury doubt, defender David Addy, "has recovered and took part in a full training session with us on Monday".
Egypt know full well they will have to produce one of the greatest comebacks in football history if they are to overcome Ghana.
They have home advantage in Cairo and will have their fans in attendance for the first time in almost two years - following the Port Said riots and the ousting of President Morsi.
And although it appears to be a foregone conclusion that Ghana will prevail, the Black Stars' skipper Asamoah Gyan will not dismiss Egypt's chances.
"It's football and so anything can happen," said Gyan, who scored twice in the first leg.
"We're in a comfortable position right now, but we need to totally focus on our job and make sure we do what we have to do to reach Brazil."
Egypt have been lifted by Al Ahly's eighth African Champions League win at the expense of South Africa's Orlando Pirates earlier this month with Mohamed Aboutrika providing the inspiration.
Aboutrika scored in both legs and the Pharaohs will hope he can inspire them to pull of what would be a remarkable upset.
Egypt beat Zambia 2-0 in a warm-up last week and the Pharaohs coach Bob Bradley has promised to ring changes to the team from the disastrous outing in Kumasi.
Ghana's concerns over their safety in Cairo have dominated the build-up to the game and they made two unsuccessful appeals to Fifa for the game to be switched from the 30 June Stadium.
It took two meetings between the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Fifa and Egyptian authorities before a 16-point plan was considered adequate to allay Ghana's fears.
Share on Google Plus

About Baraka Kiranga

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.
    Blogger Comment
    Facebook Comment

0 comments:

Post a Comment