Newly-appointed Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah will get the chance in July to avenge the painful defeat he suffered at the hands of the United States in his first stint in charge of the Black Stars.
That is because the Black Stars have lined up a friendly against the USA to be played in July – exactly two months after Appiah returns to the post.
Appiah was in charge of the Ghana national team when they were painfully beaten 2-1 by the Yanks at the group stage of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The Black Stars completely dominated the game but some slips in defence allowed the north Americans to defeat the Black Stars in the game that defined Appiah’s career when he was in charge.
The Ghanaian parted company with the Black Stars not long after the tournament in Brazil but has now returned to coach the West Africans.
It is a second stint in charge for Appiah, who led the Black Stars from 2012 until 2014.
Since leaving the Black Stars following a poor World Cup campaign, he has been coaching Sudanese side Al Khartoum.
The Black Stars failed to get out of the group at the World Cup in Brazil and were also beset by off-field problems with players being expelled from the team and a row over pay.
Appiah will now get the chance to face the Americans to prove to them that their win over Ghana in Natal was a fluke.
The U. S. will face World Cup nemesis Ghana in a July 1 tune-up at Rentschler Field in East Harford, Connecticut.
They have lined up the Ghana match before group stage games against Panama, Martinique and Nicaragua, which qualified for the biannual regional championship by upsetting Haiti last week.
Ghana and the United States have played each other in the last three World Cups.
Ghana, 45th in FIFA’s most recent world ranking, and the No. 23 U.S. have never met outside of a World Cup.
They faced off in each of the last three tournaments, with Ghana eliminating the U.S. in its first-round finale in Germany in 2006 and again four years later in the knockout stage in South Africa.
The Americans exacted some measure of revenge by winning 2-1 in 2014 in Brazil in the opening game for both nations — a victory that helped the U.S. survive a difficult group that also included Portugal and eventual champion Germany.
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