Posted by Former Skipper of the Black Stars Stephen Appiah has revealed that nearly all the Black Stars players were excited when they realized they’ll be playing Brazil in the round of 16 of the 2006 World Cup.
The Black Stars in 2006 qualified to the round of 16 of the World Cup in Germany after defeating USA 2-1 in their final group game.
The Black Stars were handed the toughest test of their lives, one any team of any generation would never wish to face, they played against then World Champions Brazil.
Ghana were massive underdogs for the game. They were playing against Brazil Galaticos, a side every team will be petrified to play against. But skipper of the team in 2006 Stephen Appiah has divulged that they were rather excited to play Brazil.
“Before we played against USA, we knew we were going to play Brazil should we qualify. So after the game in the dressing room, we were told we were going to play Brazil and some of us were excited.”
“We had respect for them, but not fear, because if you watched our games you could realize we played much better against Czech than we did against Italy, we also played much better against USA than against Czech Republic.”
“And with tournaments as you go, the more you get confidence. We were excited we were going to play against the best and that’s where you have to show yourself, that’s is why i said we were excited playing against them” he concluded.