Kwesi Appiah hopes Ghana can sustain their exciting build up to the Africa Cup of Nations as he makes his competition debut as head coach.

The Black Stars coach is no stranger to the competition. He was part of Ghana's last title winning squad in 1982, though he did not play a game.

He has captained the national team before and played at the 1992 Nations Cup final. The former left-back was also the assistant coach when Ghana made it to the finals three years ago in Angola.

Now, he faces a different task. Appiah's team preparations in Abu Dhabi was capped with two impressive friendly victories against Egypt and Tunisia and he is hoping to extend Ghana's winning run to the tournament, beginning with the Group B opener against DR Congo.

“For me I think we are fully prepared,” said Appiah on the eve of the game.

“We’ve been in Abu Dhabi for sometime, and the good thing is I had some few injuries and they are all back now training. The spirit and unity in camp is very high and I believe we are ready for the competition.”

The Black Stars coach has been full of praise for all the hard work put in by his players and believes a win in the first game will give his side the perfect platform to build on.

“It’s always important that in your first game, you try to get a win.”

“I always keep saying that there is no way you can underrate any of the teams in this competition, they are all really good.

“The most important thing is how you approach you games and psyche your boys up to play and how you get this winning mentality. I believe that our players are psyched to a very high level.”

Ghana meets DR Congo on Sunday at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.