Ghana coach Maxwell Konadu confident Jordan Opoku will have a big part to play in the GoTV Wafu Cup despite coming off the bench.

The midfielder was a second-half substitute as Ghana won 4-1 against Sierra Leone in the opening fixture of the eight-nation competition reserved for only home-based players of member nations.

Jordan, one of the most experienced members of the squad came on and enjoyed a quiet afternoon.

But Konadu does not feel the player's introduction from the bench is a sign that they lack belief in him.

"We are in camp with the players and know what goes on. We all know Jordan [Opoku] is one of our best players and if we don't start him, I think you have to understand us and where we are coming from," the Ghana coach said in response to a question about the player's omission from the starting team.

"We need to protect every single player. We can't throw all our good players out there. We have a bigger stage to go so we need to protect the players for now."

After a big win in the first game, Konadu says Ghana is not getting ahead of themselves about winning the competition.

"We are going to take one match at time. We can't say we are going to win the tournament. We will take it as it comes," he said.