Ex-Ghana captain Stephen Appiah believes Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu’s injury was the only reason why he was included in the Black Stars squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The 43-year-old said he was lucky to make Milovan Rajevac’s squad for the tournament in South Africa but was only included because Agyemang-Badu got ruled out due to injury.
Appiah was discussing the phasing out of senior players from the national team and how the emergence of young players sometimes leaves coaches with no choice.
The ex-Juventus midfielder didn’t start a single game during Ghana’s 2010 World Cup campaign and often came off the bench as the Black Stars reached the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Appia has, however, urged national team coaches to let senior players know their places in the team, even if they’re not going to be starters.
“In 2010, I was lucky to be part of the team. If Agyemang-Badu was okay, 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 this time there are certain good players in the team but be around you may get either 20 or 10 minutes which depends on how you train.
“When some of the players see senior players in camp, they won’t even think of misbehaving. So we have to know how to handle senior players in the national team.”
This comes after Andre Ayew was dropped 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 leave out the Black Stars captain was a difficult one, it was the best for the team.
Pulse
