Kickoff (Cape Town)
10 October 2008
Stephen Appiah claims the Black Stars are still hungry for success after a qualifying campaign which has not gone as planned.
The Stars captain is counting on his colleague to beat Lesotho on Saturday and qualify for the next round of 2010 World Cup qualifiers and admits they will be playing not just for three points but to re-establish the fact that they still want sporting success.
"I have it said that we are still not hungry as players after playing in one world cup which is not true. As players we know it will be a great thing for our careers to play in another world cup and we all want it," he told kickoffGhana.com. "If we are happy with just one appearance in the competition then we are not serious sports men."
Appiah however admits to the fact that the Black Stars have looked nothing like the side that stormed their way to Germany before impressing on their World Cup debut.
"The players know its not been the same old Black Stars and we have talked about it. Hopefully the game against Lesotho will be a turning point for us."
Ghana needs all the three points to go through as group winners or one of the eight best runners up. Libya and Gabon are the other teams in the running with the Libyans three points clear and Gabon ahead of the Black Stars on goal difference.
The Libyans will go through if they get one point from their meeting in Libreville on Saturday.
Failure to go through could mean more than a year without any meaningful competitive international game and Appiah says that fear will drive them to victory.
"We are not desperate about scoring four, five goals as people are predicting all over," he said.
"But as players the thought of being out for that long without international games will drive us and we are mindful of that."
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