Sports News of Tuesday, 30 August 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-08-30How Kwasi Appiah attempted to convince Dutch striker Cody Gakpo to play for Black Stars
Cody Gakpo plays for the Netherlands
Even before Cody Gakpo would go on to make his senior debut for the Dutch senior national team, former Black Stars coach, James Kwasi Appiah made attempts to convince the winger to play for Ghana.
Cody Gakpo who
Read full articlewas born to a Dutch mother and Ghanaian father with relations in Togo was eligible to play for the three countries but chose to represent the Netherlands.
During Kwasi Appiah’s second stint with the Black Stars, the coach travelled to Europe to scout some players who might be willing to switch their allegiances to join the West African team.
Kwasi Appiah spent some time in the Netherlands during his scouting mission and met with five players including Cody Gakpo who are eligible to represent Ghana.
Kwasi Appiah was reported to have met former Netherlands U21 duo Cody Gakpo and Myron Boadu, Ajax striker Brian Brobbey and two others during his visit.
According to the coach, these five players were willing to play for the Black Stars but the biggest issue was to initiating a nationality switch for some of the players who had already represented the Netherlands at the youth level.
In an interview with Modern Africa, Kwasi Appiah is quoted to have said, “I have been visiting the players. I have been to Holland and Belgium. I have spotted about four to five players.
“I have seen them play a lot of times but I needed to see them and talk to them in person.
”Because some of them are willing to play for Ghana and others do not want to, so you will have to see them and talk to them.
”Out of the five I have spoken to from Holland, they are all willing to play for the Black Stars but there are some of them who have played for the junior national teams of Holland so we will have to do a nationality switch for them.”
Before meeting Kwasi Appiah, Cody Gakpo had gone through the ranks of playing for the Netherlands under 18, 19, 20 and 21.
Former Dutch coach Frank de Boer handed the PSV lad his first senior team call-up in the Netherlands squad for the UEFA Euro 2020.
Gakpo later made his debut against North Macedonia as a substitute for Frenkie de Jong.
Since then, the 21/22 Dutch Footballer of the Year has made 7 appearances for the Netherlands and scored twice.
JNA/KPE
