africatodayonline.blogspot.com -
Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah says that local coaches need to be given a chance to prove their worth and he and Nigeria's Stephen Keshi have changed some perceptions by qualifying their respective national teams for World Cup 2014.
Appiah told Cafonline.com after seeing his side go down 2-1 to Egypt in the second leg playoff match played at Cairo's Air Defence stadium. The loss did little to dampen the Black Stars' who despite that loss reach their third World cup final in a row after 2006 and 2010 on a massive 7-3 aggregate.
"All that we have been saying all along is that, given support and opportunity from football authorities, local coaches will deliver credible results and it gives me great pleasure what has happened to Keshi with Nigeria and now with me and Ghana too.
The support from government, Ghana Football Association and players has been tremendous and has made it possible for me to produce the results" said Appiah Turning to the match against Egypt, Appiah said it was a difficult match to play for Ghana and a late arrival at the stadium limited their warm up and as a result they were rather slow out of the blocks. " No matter how psyched up you may want to be, taking a commanding led like 6-1 into a second match like was the case today plays on your mind.
We knew the Egyptians would be in a hurry and we opted to slow down play and l thought we did that well. We were up against a good Egyptian team and in the end we did what was required and we are all pleased to qualify for Brazil 2014" said Appiah
