Ghana assistant coach Kwesi Appiah admits the coaching staff has to work hard at keeping Black Stars players focused on their Nations Cup qualifier against Congo as the hype around the friendly international against England dominates the front pages.

Appiah will travel with coach Goran Stevanovic and the rest of the technical team to Nairobi on Sunday for training with the players ahead of their Group I Nations Cup qualifier against Congo in Brazzaville on March 27th.

And Appiah is in no doubt what the priority will be. “The public talk may be that of the friendly, but it is our job as the technical team to keep reminding the players during the training period that the three points are far more crucial than anything.

“We will be building team spirit and working on our approach for the Congo game but reminding them of how important it is will be a part of it.”

Appiah knows that Brazzaville game has major implications for the Ghana and is delighted with the form of many key players in the build up to that.

“It is important that Tagoe is scoring goals, and many of the players are in good form so it bodes well for us.”

He is also pleased with the inclusion of young players like David Addy, Daniel Opare and Nathaniel Asamoah and says the competition their presence brings in the national team is good.

“The coach is keen to give as many players as possible the opportunity and I think calling up Opare and Asamoah proves that. Asamoah’s case shows that if you do well, you can get your chance at the high level.

“Sometimes you don’t call players to necessarily play them but you call players to give them a feel of what it is like to be in that sort of environment and being there will benefit all of them massively.”

Source: Michael Oti Adjei/Kickoff.com