Kwesi Appiah Challenge Players To Make History

The long road to ending Ghana's Africa Cup of Nations title wait rests with the present generation of Black Stars players, says coach Kwesi Appiah. Ghana are into their fourth-successive semi-final appearance at the competition and need to beat West African neighbours, Burkina Faso to go close to winning the title, last won in 1981. Appiah, who was part of that squad in Libya that lifted Ghana's fourth Nations Cup title and is challenging his team to join him and other past members in the record books. �I keep telling the players that I was lucky to be one of the players that played in 1981 that won the Cup. My name is written in the books in Ghana as a medal winner,� Appiah said in Nelspruit on the eve of the semi-final match against the Stallions. �They also need to write their names and for me, it�s one of the major motivational factors that all the players also want to get their names written so that in future they can boast that they were part of the team that won in South Africa. That�s something they are looking up to.� The Black Stars, they need to get past a Burkina Faso side that finished top of their group and have conceded just one goal so far to reach the final. For Appiah, he expects a tough contest but has been pleased with his team's progress. �At the moment, we are all pleased that we have been able to qualify to this stage. �We are fully prepared, training very well to play a tough game against Burkina [Faso] tomorrow [Wednesday],� he said. Burkina Faso only previously made the semi-finals when they hosted the tournament in 1998.