{"id":27517,"date":"2014-06-26T09:01:18","date_gmt":"2014-06-26T09:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=27517"},"modified":"2014-06-26T09:01:18","modified_gmt":"2014-06-26T09:01:18","slug":"we-play-for-our-nation-not-money-atsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/we-play-for-our-nation-not-money-atsu\/","title":{"rendered":"We play for our nation, not money – Atsu"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ghanaian winger Christian Atsu has dismissed claims that the Black Stars threatened to forfeit their final group game at the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Ghana face Portugal on Thursday in a game\u00a0 they must win to stand any chance of qualifying to the next round of the tournament.<\/p>\n
However, reports emerged during the week of the player’s displeasure at the fact that their appearance fees had not been given to them.<\/p>\n
The Government has since had to airlift an amount believed to be in the region of $3 million to Brazil to pre-finance the appearance fees which FIFA pays only after the tournament, after reports alleging that the players were threatening not to play the game on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Atsu has, however, insisted that the Black Stars were always going to play the game, with or without the money.<\/p>\n
We are not going to say we are not going to play because of the money,” he said<\/p>\n
”We love our nation and we are going to play for our nation.”<\/p>\n
The Black Stars face Portugal on Thursday needing a win while hoping the other game between Germany and USA does not end in a draw.<\/p>\n
Kick-off for both games is 4:00 pm GMT.<\/p>\n
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By: Edwin Kwakofi\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n
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Ghanaian winger Christian Atsu has dismissed claims that the Black Stars threatened to forfeit their final group game at the World Cup. Ghana face Portugal on Thursday in a game\u00a0 they must win to stand any chance of qualifying to the next round of the tournament. However, reports emerged during the week of the player’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":27520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[115,29,3],"yoast_head":"\n