By Theodore M.K. Viwotor

Former Ghana safe hands, Ali Jarra, has called on his colleague former footballers to support Coach Kwasi Appiah succeed in his job as the head coach of the senior national team, the Black Stars.

Ali Jarra, who was in the post for the Black Starlets at the finals of the FIFA U-17 finals in Japan 93, is of the hope that Appiah’s success at his challenging position will make a strong case and also pave the way for former players, many of whom are coaches of various clubs in the country.

The founder of the Ali Jarra Goalkeepers Academy and coach of the Gunners Football Club is calling on his colleagues to offer a word of prayer for him at a time he is playing two serious World Cup qualifying matches in June and also give him any technical advice they deem necessary to ensure that he leads the Stars to greater heights.

“Being chosen to handle a national team that has been led by expatriates for many years now, puts a lot of pressure on a local coach, especially when there are expectations that he should do more than his predecessors have done,” he observed. He added that, anything short of what had been done by former coach Goran Stevanovic or others will be not help his ‘senior brother,’ therefore he needs a lot of moral and spiritual support to go farther to the delight of Ghanaians. Hopeful that Coach Appiah will not disappoint Ghanaians, he advised him against complacency in the face of the goodwill he is enjoying, saying, ‘the goodwill is to encourage him to do more.’

Ali Jarra was a former member of the Black Starlets, Black Satellites and the Black Stars. A strange ailment cut short his burgeoning career in 1993, denying Ghana of a world class goalkeeper, but the prolific goalkeeper is still raising many goalkeepers and players and is the senior coach of the Ghana Amputee national team, the Black Challenge.

Kwesi Appiah was recently appointed as substantive coach of the senior national team the Black Stars and is to be assisted by Coach Maxwell Konadu. His appointment comes after several expatriates had been in charge.

He is to ensure Ghana qualifies to both Africa Cup tournament in South Africa in 2013 and the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. His first assignments are against Lesotho on June 1 in Kumasi and Zambia on June 9 in Lusaka.