Did the GFA fix the Ghana/USA opening match?

...The post-mortem of the Ghana World adventure.

Soon after their exit from the just ended FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the Nigerian government sacked the entire officials, including the President of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) for the poor performance of the Nigerian national team, the Green Eagles.


FIFA, immediately reacted issuing a very stern warning to Nigeria, threatening to expel her from all future FIFA organised football activities.


But the question is who owns a national team? Is it the country or FIFA? One thing that FIFA and its President, Sepp Blatter do not understand is that national teams are for countries and their wellbeing and performance affect the psychic of the nation, that is why it is important that the government gets involved in the activities of the national team.


For instance, when the Ghanaian players demanded their money at World Cup, the onus of handling the situation was placed squarely at the door step of the government of Ghana and not the GFA or FIFA. The rule by FIFA that there shouldn't be government involvement in football is utter nonsense because the disgrace or fame of a national team is for the people and government of the country and not for the few selected people leading the national team.

The FIFA rules also give way for officials of football Associations to be corrupt that is why almost all the football Associations around the world, including FIFA, is engulfed in corruption and scandals.


How will any country feel when in the middle of a major tournament like the World Cup, the football Association of the country is implicated in match fixing involving the country's national team?


What is Kwesi Nyantekyi saying?


Does he realise the effect of that news on the psychic of the players in camp at that particular moment and the citizenry of the country? Somebody should give Ghanaians one good reason why Kwesi Nyantekyi, the GFA President, should still be in office after that useless explanation he gave at his press conference after the World Cup. The events leading up to the World Cup and the subsequent exposure of the match fixing deal by a British newspaper, tells it all why the preparations of the Ghana Black Stars was so shoddy. Majority of Ghanaians are of the opinion that the Ghana government should have followed the example of the Nigerians by dismissing the entire Executives of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and their President Kwesi Nyantekyi because the Black Stars of Ghana performed so poorly than the Nigerians. Right from day one, many were not happy with the national team's preparation for the World Cup and all attempts to get the GFA to change how they were handling the team's preparation fell on deaf ears because almighty FIFA rules are supreme. First on the issues that confronted the Black Star's journey to Brazil was the inexperience of the national Coach, Kwesi Appiah. Football experts around the globe tried to make the country understand that yes, Kwesi Appiah has qualified the team to the World Cup but he as a Coach, does not have what it takes to lead the team to such a major international tournament. All of us, majority of Ghanaians out of patriotism, felt that it would be better the country go to the World Cup with a son of the land and so Kwesi Appiah led the team and today, we all realise our mistake and are licking our wound. I don't regret Kwesi Appiah leading the team despite his inexperience because we need to start sending our local coaches to such tournaments since it is the only way our coaches would get the experience they lack today. The main problem that spelt out our doom at the World Cup was not the quality of our players but rather the outright inefficiency of the Black Star's management team. The management team apart from been inefficient, were greedy, selfish and above all very corrupt. That is why the Ghanaian public strongly believe the Ghana/USA opening match was fixed after it came to light that the GFA President, Kwesi Nyantekyi and some FIFA agents were fixing matches involving the national team, the Black Stars. TRANSPORTATION First, how was the team's transportation from Accra via the Netherlands to the US and finally to Brazil handled? The whole country was told the team was traveling on a charter flight fully paid for by either the government or by FIFA. (Someone should tell us which of the two was responsible for the team's transportation to Brazil) But what was the reality that nobody is talking about, including the players, who for fear of not been invited to the national team in future, are also not talking to tell Ghanaians and the World what really happened. The truth of the matter is that the only time the players were given a charter flight was when they travelled from Florida in the US to Washington DC and from Washington DC to Brazil. The players, from the time they left Accra, travelled on "Trotro" planes in batches of five and ten to all their destinations until they got to Florida, from where they had the privilege of traveling on a chartered flight to Washington DC and on to Brazil. So what happened to the promise that the Ghana team to the World Cup had been allocated a chartered flight? Even on the final journey from Washington DC to Brazil, while Kwesi Nyantekyi, his wife, his children and his domestic maid, were all in the First Class, while the players, who were the reason the chartered flight was being provided, were squeezed into the Economy class. Ghanaians and indeed the whole world, did not understand why the players had demanded their bonus in cash and for that reason, the players were chastised severely with some Ghanaians and indeed the International media saying in this day and age, who demands physical cash when the money could have been deposited in their Bank Accounts. The truth is that before the team departed for Brazil, according to a source close to the players, they were all given a Unibank Credit cards with the assurance that each player had two (2) thousand dollars on their cards. When they arrived in Holland, attempt by some of them to use the card to purchase a few things failed because there was no money on the cards. The players, even though not happy, with assurance from Asamoah Gyan, the team's Captain, accepted management’s explanation and assurance that by the time they arrive in the US, there will be money on their cards. Again in the US, the money did not reflect on the cards and by the time they arrived in Brazil and played their opening match against the US, the money had still not reflected on the Unibank card. Just put yourself in the shoes of these players and you have been disappointed on two occasions, would you still trust the management team a third time to deposit money in your bank account? This was the situation the players found themselves at the hands of the management team and government officials who accompanied them to the World Cup. Another important question agitating the minds of many Ghanaians is whose idea was it that the Black Stars camp in the USA? Apart from the USA camping presenting GFA officials with opportunity to fix the Ghana/USA opening match, it also exposed the players to American and European media tactics, psychologically working on the minds of the players and succeeded in demoralising most of them. Majority of the American media rubbished the African teams, insinuating they hadn’t got the quality to be at the world cup and one Radio station in Miami, Florida saying they were surprise at how a Mosquito infested country like Ghana can even dream of playing and beating the US. These kinds of insinuations and intimations have a way of getting to the players and this went on throughout the duration the players were in the USA and no one can say that it didn’t affect the psychic of the players. So why should we allow the American and the European media to work on the minds of our players to the extent that I believe it really affected their ability to perform. I am not sure if the Committee set up by the government to look into the circumstance surrounding the disturbance in the Camp of the Black Stars in Brazil had finished its work but I am hoping that it will look at the information provided above before presenting its report to government.