Ghana coach Kwesi impressed by Japan performance

by Graeme Jackson

Thursday May 31, 2018. 17:00

Ghana head coach Kwesi Appiah feels that Japan will benefit from their clash with the Black Stars.

The Black Stars beat the Blue Samurai 2-0 in an international match which was played in Yokohama on Wednesday.

Kwesi believes that the defeat will help Japan at the upcoming 2018 Fifa World Cup finals which are scheduled to be hosted by Russia between June and July.

“Tactically, the Japanese team were not a bad side whenever they had the ball,” Appiah said on My Joy Online.

“They moved very well up front but I think there were some lapses with their defending. I think it’s a very good exercise for Japan in the sense that I don’t believe in winning games before the World Cup.

“It’s important that you lose sometimes because you learn from your mistakes. You do it now and then the coach can learn from it and perform very well at the World Cup,” he added.

Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Teye Partey and Levante striker Emmanuel Boateng scored Ghana's two goals.

Japan's new head coach Akira Nishino was disappointed to have lost his first match in charge of the Blue Samurai.

However, the 63-year-old admitted that he must solve vulnerabilities in the team before the World Cup kicks off.

“Some things worked and some things didn’t, and the things that didn’t led to this result,” said Nishino.

“I was able to try out a lot of things and I was able to look at a lot of players, but we were looking to win the game and the fact that we didn’t is disappointing.

“As time went on things picked up, but we didn’t start the game well. We weren’t all on the same page but this is a good test for us and we will work on our shortcomings,” he added.

Japan will face Senegal, Poland and Columbia in Group H.