Former
captain of the Black Stars Stephen “Tonado” Appiah disagrees with pundits who
have tagged Ghana’s group as a group of death.
Many
Football activist and analyst have label Group G where Ghana falls as a “Group
of death” in relation with the sort of oppositions the Black Stars will be
facing.
The Black
Stars of Ghana are pitted in a tricky group which comprises of heavyweights
Germany, Portugal and the USA. But according to Appiah who captain the stars to
two successive World Cup feats, thus in 2006 and 2010, Ghana is now a force to
reckon with at the World Cup after immense performances at the last two
editions of the campign and does not believe the team finds itself in a thorny
group.
“I’m
surprised that Ghanaians are still saying we are in a group of death. Of course
is Germany, Portugal and USA. We respect them. 2006 we went there with no
experience but we showed the World that we know how to play. We were the only
African team that went past the group stage”, he Power FM.
“2010 there
was a progress. We once again showed the World that yes we know how to play. I
don’t want to say we are a threat to the European teams but we can play like
them because we have proved to them that we can play. So they are rather scared
of us. So when I hear people saying Group of Death I don’t like it”, he added.
“In 2006 we
played against Italy and they beat us 2-0. We played against Czech who were
number 2 in the World and we beat them 2-0.In fact we thrashed them. WE played
against USA who were also number 5 in the World and we beat them as well. So we
played against all these three big teams in Germany. We don’t have to be
scared. The most important thing is for the players to train hard, stay focus
and determine that they can do it and I think they will make us proud”.
Ghana opens
their campaign on June 16th with the USA at Natal before traveling
to Brasilia to face Germany and then complete their group games with Portugal
on Fortaleza.
By Frank
Darkwah
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