Ghana coach, Kwesi Appiah, has described the Black Stars’ display against Japan last Tuesday as positive despite losing 1-3 to the Asians.
Japan proved too strong for Ghana in the international friendly in Yokohama, which the Blue Samurai rallied from a goal down, and produced three second half goals to wrap up victory in front of a packed arena.
Appiah told GNA Sports in a post-match interview that "I was very impressed by the performance of my players, they all did well. To build a team, it is important to play against top teams as Japan."
Appiah, who could become the first local coach to qualify the Black Stars to a World Cup after guiding the team to the final phase of the Brazil 2014 World Cup qualifiers, however, was quick to ask question of the focus of his charges.
"At this level when you lose concentration, you pay a price for it and that is what happened in the game. Performance-wise, it was a good game for us,” he said.
The hosts outplayed their guests in the encounter that saw the latter parading a side bereft of some regular faces.
Appiah left out captain Asamoah Gyan, Andre Ayew, Michael Essien, Mubarak Wakaso, Emmanuel Agyemang Badu and Kevin-Prince Boateng from the clash in order to observe ‘fringe’ members of the team ahead of the playoff next month.
He had kind words for the Asians, the first country to book a place in next year’s World Cup.
"I believe that Japan is a very good team, all of their players are very good. I don’t think it is fair to talk about a single player, but Shinji Kagawa is a very good player, everybody knows that."
