Rodney Appiah, son of Black Stars great Stephen Appiah, has vowed to follow in the footsteps of his dad.
Rodney has to fill in the big shoes left behind by his father who captained the Black Stars to their maiden FIFA World Cup appearance in 2006.
He also played in numerous Africa Cup of Nations tournaments for the Black Stars, made 69 appearances, and scored 16 goals for the national team.
Rodney wants to emulate his dad by continuing his legacy and also playing to the highest level.
Speaking in an interview on how he got the interest to play football and his ambition to be successful more than his dad he said: “I grew up playing football my whole life, I was born in Italy and I started my football career over there with Juventus Academy.”
“With the support of my dad and everything I already saw myself making it.”
“I grew up watching and learning from him and seeing the way the Ghanaians love him so I wanted to feel the same way so that Ghanaians will love me as well.”
“I felt like I had no choice but to play football but after, felt I was good at it and I needed to do it.”
“In the beginning it was difficult but now I have improved a lot. The coaches, the staff, and everybody have begun liking me.”
“They always want me to play with them, among them and stuff so I think I’m doing well.”
“I need to work extra hard because I’m playing with older people, people who are more experienced than me and stronger than me and everything so I just need to work very hard”.
Rodney wants to better than his father by achieving more in his career.
“I will try my best to do better than him [Stephen Appiah], play well on the field so that I don’t destroy our name or anything like that.”
“He [Stephen Appiah] keeps telling me to enjoy the game, I should just try and be myself, I shouldn’t be like him.”
“I won’t panic, I will just do what I can do.” Rodney Appiah told 3Sports.
Rodney was born in Italy where he started his football with the Juventus academy.
The youngster is hoping to hit the ground running after joining Great Olympics.
Source: Ghana Soccernet
