Ghana\u2019s camp implosion in Brazil during this year\u2019s world cup is drawing comparison with the French \u2018civil war\u2019 of the 2010 world cup- a big permanent scar for Ghana football.<\/p>\n
This is simply a case of old ghosts coming back to haunt Ghana football. The recurring issues the GFA failed to deal with decisively have now exploded in our faces.<\/p>\n
In the build-up to the Final group Game, with elimination staring at the Black Stars, and the hubbub of the team holding out for their appearance fees; the last thing Ghana needed was in-fighting and clashes in camp.<\/p>\n
But that is exactly what happened. Four hours before Ghana played Portugal in a make-or-break last group game the GFA issued this statement:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ghana Football Association (GFA) has approved Coach Kwesi Appiah\u2019s decision to suspend Kevin-Prince Boateng indefinitely from the Black Stars\u2026 The decision was taken following Boateng\u2019s vulgar verbal insults targeted at coach Kwesi Appiah during the team\u2019s training session in Maceio this week\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ghana Football Association (GFA) has suspended Sulley Ali Muntari indefinitely from the Black Stars with immediate effect. The decision was taken in the wake of his unprovoked physical attack on an Executive Committee member of the GFA and a management member of the Black Stars, Mr. Moses Armah on Tuesday 24th June, 2014 during a meeting.<\/p>\n
I will spare you the gory details of both incidents.<\/p>\n
Kevin has always courted controversy over his commitment to Ghana, but It was the first time Kevin Prince Boateng had fallen foul of the disciplinary bar in camp. Sulley\u2019s recidivism on the other hand is already legendary among Ghanaian football fans.<\/p>\n
The AC Milan Player has previously been suspended in 2004 (under Mariano Barreto), 2010 under Milovan Rajevac and 2013 under Kwesi Appiah.<\/p>\n
Maintaining discipline was always going to be a challenge for Coach Kwesi Appiah, not necessarily because he was a local coach but because the incidents of indiscipline that came up in previous Black Stars camp had been treated with kid gloves and downplayed by the leadership of the Ghana football association.<\/p>\n
As I shall discuss later the GFA\u2019s jettisoning of the details of technical report of previous coach Goran Stevanovic from the 2012 only covered up what was a looming time that has now exploded in the most embarrassing way possible in 2014, just 2 years later!<\/p>\n
Current Coach Kwesi Appiah\u2019s first challenge with player dissent came when Andre Ayew delivered a diatribe at the technical team following his substitution in Ghana\u2019s Afcon qualification match against Malawi.<\/p>\n
The midfielder was said to have thrown tantrums when he was substituted during the game in Malawi and later on refused to shake hands with other colleagues on the bench as well in the dressing room. He was subsequently dropped from the Afcon team until he apologised in October 2014.<\/p>\n
Next was the regularly defaulting Sulley Muntari, who gave Coach Appiah a piece of his vulgar mind after being substituted in the 65th minute of the world cup qualifier away to Lesotho.<\/p>\n
After initially denying that the incident occurred, Muntari faced with missing the world cup if Ghana qualified, reversed his position and apologised to the technical team and his team-mates in a letter published on the GFA website: \u201cI write this letter to render my sincere apologies to the Management, Technical Team and the entire players of the Black Stars for my after the Lesotho\/Ghana match which was played in Maseru on Sunday, 17th June 2013,\u201d he ended the letter with a firm promise \u201cI wish to state that this unfortunate incident will not happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sulley seems to have made good the popular saying that \u201c a leopard cannot change its spots\u201d.<\/p>\n
Both players apologies were instigated by deadlines given them by the FA- a step which merely papered over the cracks of player dissent in the national team.<\/p>\n
My colleague Erasmus Kwaw writing on goal.com in 2012 after Kwesi Appiah\u2019s Appointment made a remarkably profound observation when he opined \u201cNo coach worth his salt tolerates indiscipline in his team. It is a canker that destroys team spirit and everything a team represents if unchecked. Any form of disrespectful behaviour emanating from player ego if not properly dealt with from the beginning can have disastrous consequences on team spirit\u201d. He went on to ask a question that is likely to be repeated several times after the recent incidents \u201cBut then again, if indiscipline has been a problem in camp all this while then what steps has Appiah taken to root it out? Appiah is affable and liked by almost everybody but it takes some firmness to handle the national team\u201d.<\/p>\n
It is obvious that the coach, nicknamed the \u2018Silent Killer\u2019 perhaps did not entirely stamp his authority over this Black Stars at Brazil 2014. But it would be unfair to entirely blame him.<\/p>\n
The GFA management committee of the Black Stars must take the bigger responsibility. Perhaps they have already borne the brunt of player indiscipline after Muntari\u2019s alleged gladiatorial attack on Mr Moses Armah, one of their members. For years now the GFA has failed to take responsibility and show a clear lack of tolerance for Player misbehavior.<\/p>\n
When incidents occur in camp the GFA will quickly tag journalists reporting the incidents as doom mongers. Then they FA will deny the incident. When it becomes apparent that the incident did occur then the FA\u2019s communication machinery will play spin with the extent of it.<\/p>\n
Worse still is the practice of not supporting coaches when they punish players who misbehave. In 2004 sulley was restored to the squad soon after Mariano Barreto was fired. Barreto had earlier thrown Sulley out of Ghana\u2019s Olympic team for indiscipline.<\/p>\n
The mixed signals from the FA always makes the coach seem the villain. In 2012 following Ghana\u2019s semi final exit from the Afcon, Goran Stevanovic then Black Stars coach faced a nation looking for answers after another failed attempt to win the African cup.<\/p>\n
The coach admitted his team could have done better, but his technical report was a damning assessment of the level of player indiscipline and divisiveness in camp.<\/p>\n
Stevanovic said there were \u201c\u2026 accusations and blames amongst the players which needs to be addressed by the FA management and the technical team for a better future\u201d.<\/p>\n
He then delivered a rather prophetic conclusion \u201cWe all need to help in changing some players’ mentality about using black power to destroy themselves and also make sure we install discipline and respect for each other\u201d.<\/p>\n
For many Ghanaians this was a lame attempt by the Serbian to shift blame to the Ghanaian players. Only he, not the players or management was responsible for the nation\u2019s failures. He was fired!<\/p>\n
On hindsight, Ghanaians were really playing ostrich.<\/p>\n
It was clear then as it is now that something should have been done. Indeed most of the current members of the Black Stars management committee were there in 2012 and were privy to the incidents Stevanovic pointed to.<\/p>\n
Even more startling is the fact that the assistant coach in 2012 who co-authored that technical report is now the main victim of the current storm in the Black Stars camp- Kwesi Appiah the head coach.<\/p>\n
So what has changed since 2012? Nothing. If anything the problem has become deeper. Sulley Muntari and Kevin Prince Boateng may be the fall guys in 2014, but their ousting from the Ghana camp is only a momentary step.<\/p>\n
The GFA and indeed followers of Ghana football must admit that the problem of player mutiny and unruliness will not go away until the take decisive measures to stamp it out.<\/p>\n
As the Ghanaian proverb goes \u201cthe plant that will prick your eyes must be uprooted and not merely cut short\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By: Samuel Bartels<\/p>\n
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Ghana\u2019s camp implosion in Brazil during this year\u2019s world cup is drawing comparison with the French \u2018civil war\u2019 of the 2010 world cup- a big permanent scar for Ghana football. This is simply a case of old ghosts coming back to haunt Ghana football. The recurring issues the GFA failed to deal with decisively have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":27736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[29,3],"yoast_head":"\n