Ghana coach defends player suspensions
Jun 26, 2014 - 9:46 PM Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah says the country's football chiefs were right to order home star players Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari, insisting the decision did not cost the side a place in the last 16.Ghana lost to Portugal 2-1 on Thursday, but had they snatched victory, Ghana would have progressed to the knockout rounds for the third straight World Cup despite the loss of Boateng and Muntari after bust-ups with management.
Muntari, 29, is accused of attacking a member of the management team, Moses Armah, while Boateng, 27, is said to have verbally abused national team coach Appiah, the Ghana FA said.
"The decision to send two players home ... has got to do with disciplinary issues," said Appiah. "At this level you look at a team, you don't just concentrate on at just one player."
"If you want to build a team and instil discipline it's always important that you set things right so that it doesn't affect the team in the future," he added, saying the decision was taken on Wednesday.
In an interview with German newspaper Sport Bild, Boateng said Appiah swore at him during an altercation which erupted after the two players were ordered back to the changing room for laughing during a training session.
"I asked him what he has against me, whereupon he began to scream at me. He insulted me too," said Boateng.
"I absolutely accept that (being sent home) but no-one should believe that I would have insulted the coach, nor to lay blame at my door."
The coach said he felt his team had played well enough to win even without the missing big-name players, whom he said could return to the national fold in time.
"I don't think it had any impact on the game. The boys played well. They had a few chances but we couldn't take them."
The news filtered out on Thursday, a day after the Ghana government said it was airlifting $US3 million ($A3.25 million) to Brazil to resolve a financial dispute with players, who boycotted training earlier in the week in protest.
"This money has got to do with appearance fees and as you are aware all appearance fees are normally paid before the competition starts," said Appiah.
"Unfortunately, ours didn't happen that way."
"What the players requested was what was paid to them," he confirmed.
"No coach will love to be in such a situation. Every coach would love to have his players concentrating on the games, not on money or other issues."
Source: AAP
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