Lesson for Black Stars

KWESI Appiah is a young coach relishing being in charge of one of the more youthful teams at the Africa Cup of Nations this year.

But the Ghana coach, who is at the helm in his first continental showpiece, said he was not only building for the future.

Ghana played to 2-2 draw against the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in their Group B clash on Sunday, a match Appiah said showed the immaturity of his young side.

"About five of the players in the starting line-up have never played on this big stage and they were a bit jittery," the coach said, reflecting on the dropped points as Ghana threw away a two-goal lead.

"A player might be very good, but most of them have never been to any competition. It was normal that they would be a bit nervous."

Appiah has been criticised for travelling to South Africa without key figures Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien, and leaving out Ghana superstar Andre Ayew, son of the legendary Abedi Pele. Most of it was hardly his doing, though, as injury played some part in keeping these players from joining the team.

One of the "Black Starlets" Appiah picked to start against DRC on Sunday - 21-year-old Christian Atsu - scored the opening goal of the tournament.

"I played in the national team for about 12 years and have been in the system as a coach for some time now. And as a national team coach I have learned that it is about making your own decisions," said Appiah.

"It's about taking the right decisions for the nation. I believe we have a lot of talent in this team and I believe we will still surprise a lot of people even though we could not get the win we wanted (against DRC)."

Now Appiah says the clash against Mali tomorrow is a must-win and backs his inexperienced team to quickly shake off the nerves.

"They had a meeting among themselves where everyone spoke out about the performance of the team. I also had a few words with them to address what happened against Congo," the coach said.