Kwesi Appiah is the right man for the job: Abukari Damba
Former goalkeepers' trainer of the Ghana national football team Abukari Damba has thrown his support behind James Kwesi Appiah for the vacant Black Stars coaching role.
Appiah, 62, led the Black Stars to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil but mutually parted ways with the national team after Ghana failed to qualify from the group stages. The former national team gaffer has confirmed his desire to return for the third time, however.
The Black Stars immediate former manager, Otto Addo, resigned from his role after Ghana’s early elimination at the 2022 FIFA World cup in Qatar, and with few months to the start of the AFCON qualifiers.
In an exclusive interview with Class Sports on Saturday January 21, Abukari Damba expressed belief that Kwesi Appiah is the right man for the national team.
“Kwesi Appiah has been around for donkey years. We know what he has done. He has records to prove and records to show, especially in terms of player scouting and identification of talent. We all know the players he brought into the national team who excelled and are now poster boys like Mohammed Kudus,’’ he said.
In April 2017, Appiah was re-appointed as the head coach of the Ghana national team, replacing former Chelsea manager, Avram Grant. He was then axed in January 2020 by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) led by Kurt Okraku and with Appiah confirming his desired return to the role, Damba sees no reason why the former cannot work with the very people that sacked him.
“We don’t need to be friends to work together. The assumption that the current administration ousted him does not matter,” he added.
The GFA is expected to name a new gaffer for the Black Stars before Ghana’s start of the 2023 AFCON Qualifiers in March.
Trending Sports
African Games: Ghana hands over baton to Egypt
10:0613th African Games: Alan congratulates Ghanaian athletes
11:16No Ghanaian athlete has qualified for Paris Olympics so far despite success at African Games
08:56African Games: Newly constructed sports facilities’ll be well maintained – Akufo-Addo
07:13Football: Jerry Afriyie’s screamer wins gold for Ghana in African Games
08:56Joseph Paul Amoah wins gold in Men's 200m at African Games
19:42Evans Cadman Yamoah secures gold for Ghana in high jump at African Games
09:04Ghana women's hockey team clinches gold in thrilling African Games final
18:57Xabi Alonso: Liverpool eye other candidates with Bayer Leverkusen set to keep Spanish boss
03:48Nottingham Forest: Steven Reid guilty of expletive-laden abuse of referee Paul Tierney
03:40