Stephen Appiah: “I was lucky to be part of Ghana’s 2010 World Cup squad”

It is all the Black Stars at the moment with Ghana set to travel to Bamako to face Mali and host the Central African Republic in Kumasi in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Former skipper Stephen Appiah who led Ghana to its maiden FIFA World Cup appearance in Germany in 2006 has revealed how fortunate he was to be part of Ghana’s team in the 2010 World Cup.

“In 2010, I was lucky to be part of the team. If Agyemang-Badu was okay, maybe I wouldn’t have been part of the 2010 World Cup which would have been difficult,” disclosed Appiah.

Agyeman Badu was one of the initial 30 players Milovan Rajevac named but could not make the final 23-man squad paving the way for the experienced Stephen Appiah.

“You can have senior players in the team and if you let them understand that this time there are certain good players in the team but be around you may get either 20 or 10 minutes which depends on how you train,” he explained.

Stephen Appiah shared his experience about how senior players must be handled. He said that senior players must be around the team but must be informed of the number of minutes they are supposed to get.

“When some of the players see senior players in camp, they won’t even think of misbehaving. So we have to know how to handle senior players in the national team,” added Appiah.

The former skipper explained how important it is to have senior players among the younger ones. He revealed that young players do not even misbehave when they see the presence of senior players in the squad.