Ghana aim for goals in CHAN

Ghana's assistant coach Kwesi Appiah says his side need at least a two-goal advantage from the first leg of their African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifier at home to Nigeria.

Appiah works alongside senior national team coach Milovan Rajevac with the CHAN squad.

The two arch rivals meet in Accra on Sunday in the final regional qualifier for the first-ever CHAN, the event open only to locally-based players.

There are six other first leg games this weekend as teams aim to qualify for the finals in the Ivory Coast next February.

"I believe we will try and get two or three goals to be sure of ourselves," Appiah told BBC Sport.

"I don't like predicting but I believe looking at the training that we've done this week and all the players want to stay in the national team and they see this game with Nigeria as a big step."

Appiah says that his players need very little encouragement ahead of a game against Nigeria.

"When Ghana play Nigeria there's nothing like a big game or a small one whether it's girls or small boys playing its seen differently," he said.

"We didn't depend on age, we looked at those who can play for the nation"
Ghana assistant coach Kwesi Appiah

"It's a tough game but the mere fact it's Nigeria means everyone's focus is on the game."

The former Black Stars captain insists that being in the CHAN side is a an honour for the players.

"Getting into this local Black Stars set up is something Ghanaian players want to be affiliated with because some of the players we called up last year have been promoted to the senior team," Appiah explained.

"This is also the first step to being exposed to the world and for modern players they all want to play professionally outside the country.

"If we can beat Nigeria and qualify for the Ivory Coast that will be a big thing - there will be agents and exposure there.

Appiah also explained that age is not a factor when choosing Ghana's CHAN squad.

"We didn't depend on age, we looked at those who can play for the nation," he said.

"Before Claude [LeRoy] was concentrating on age but in this case age wasn't a factor."

Fixtures:

North Zone
Morocco v Libya

West A Zone
Guinea v Senegal

West B Zone
Ghana v Nigeria

Central Zone
Cameroon v DR Congo

Central East Zone
Tanzania v Sudan

Southern Zone
Angola v Zambia
South Africa v Zimbabwe

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