Mercurial midfielder Michael Essien and some ex and current players yesterday joined former Black Stars captain Stephen Appiah to thank God at the Martyrs of Uganda church at Mamprobi, an Accra suburb.

The service, a thanksgiving one for Appiah’s departed father Bartholomew Nii Sackey Appiah, who passed on a few months ago, aptly describes the scripture which says, “How beautiful it is for brothers to get along,” Essien, who is in the country for the Christmas holidays, earlier had mourned with Appiah from the wake keeping, burial to the thanksgiving service which drew a large following.

The two have been the best of friends on and off the pitch, underscoring unity, a legacy that Appiah bequeathed to the team he led to the World Cup on two occasions. Sackey Appiah was buried last Saturday at the Osu Cemetery. He was 70. Meanwhile, Appiah has made a GH¢5,000 donation to the church’s youth for its dinner celebration.