Stephen Appiah: I was lucky to be part of Ghana’s squad for the 2010 World Cup

Appiah discussed the phasing out of senior players from the national team and how the emergence of young players sometimes leaves coaches with no choice.

The former Juventus midfielder did not start a game during Ghana’s 2010 World Cup campaign and often came off the bench as the Black Stars reached the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Appia, however, urged the national team coaches to inform the senior players that they have their place in the team, even if they will not be starters.

“In 2010, I was lucky to be part of the team. If Agyemang-Badu had been OK, maybe I wouldn’t have been part of the 2010 World Cup, which would have been difficult.” Appiah told 3Sports.

“You can have senior players in the team and if you let them understand that there are some good players in the team this time but you’re around you can have either 20 minutes or 10 minutes depending on how you train.

“When some of the players see senior players in the training camp, they won’t even think of misbehaving. So we have to know how to handle the senior players in the national team.”

This comes after Andre Ayew was withdrawn from Ghana’s latest squad for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR).

Otto Addo’s explanation was that although the decision to let go of the Black Stars captain was a difficult one, it was the best for the team.