Black Stars Coach, James Kwasi Appiah, has expressed satisfaction at the performance of his team despite their 1-1 draw with the Pharaohs of Egypt in their final Group E World Cup qualifying match at the Robert Mensah Stadium in Cape Coast.
Coach Appiah has received a myriad of plaudits in a thrilling match that saw new players rub shoulders with their Egyptian counterparts in tensed match that saw the Black Stars come from a goal down to draw parity with Egypt who had already qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Speaking to the press after the game, Coach Kwasi Appiah confirmed that the game was supposed to be used to build a formidable team for 2019 since they were already out of contention for a place in Russia.
“We knew we were already out of the race to qualify for the World Cup so I wanted to give other players the opportunity to see what they can offer my new team for 2019. I’m happy with the results and very hopeful for the future, especially because we had a challenge of finding the right balance between three or four experienced players and several new faces,” he said.
“We were confident that we would get a positive result as the match was played at home but at the same time we were aware that the game would not be easy, I was confident that we would score the equaliser. The fans were a source of some stress but we finally managed to score,” Appiah expressed.
Egypt, who sealed a World Cup berth for the first time in 28 years after beating Congo 2-1 at home last month, ended the qualifiers on top of their group with 13 points.
Uganda finished second with nine points, while Ghana came third on seven and Congo at the bottom with two.
Ghana reached the last three editions of the World Cup, making history by reaching the quarter-final in 2010.
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