'We gave players an inch and they took a mile'

The team manager of the senior national male football team, the Black Stars, has lamented the team’s unfortunate off-pitch showing at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

In a campaign fraught with the highest level of player indiscipline, the Black Stars bid an early goodbye to the tournament against all expectations following a 2-1 loss to Portugal, particularly after an apparently better showing against Germany after losing their tournament opener against the USA.

The short but contentious campaign on Ghana’s third straight World Cup appearance saw two influential players sent home on the day of Ghana’s last match against Portugal at the Estadio Nacional for two separate incidents.

AC Milan star Sulley Muntari was suspended on account of physical assault on Moses Armah Parker, a management committee member, while Schalke 04’s Kevin-Prince Boateng was sent home for verbally assaulting the head coach James Kwesi Appiah.

An unfortunate agitation by members of the playing body for delay in payment of appearance fees also saw the team miss a training session, warranting an outrageous airlifting of $3m in cash from Accra to Brasilia in order to calm issues ahead of the clash with Portugal.

Speaking in the aftermath of the World Cup fiasco, team manager Saban Quaye, has lashed out at the despicable behaviour exhibited by the team.

“The tournament has exposed many things of which we’ll just face with serious assessment,” he told Metro Sports. “We have seen a lot. We gave them an inch and they took a mile. We had to adjust to the system or the behavior of the boys just to pick things from it,” he told the TV station.

Even in the face of the blatant drama in Brazil which led the country into various news headlines, Quaye refuses to accept that Ghana possibly hit one of its highest stages of ignominy in world football and is already looking forward to the future.

“We came to the World Cup to do our best. We’ve been eliminated but we’ve not been disgraced. We’re going to reflect on it to correct the rough edges and put the team together,” he said.

In a related development, fellow management committee member, Hon. Yaw Boateng Gyan has described the much-talked-about level of indiscipline as the highest he’s ever seen.

“I have not been long in this position as management member of the Black Stars but I never thought and never knew that there was so much indiscipline in the playing body. That very day before the match with Portugal, people who were around us saw some unfortunate incident which is out there.

“We need to get people who are more disciplined to represent the country when it comes to the game of football. I believe we need psychologists to screen all of these people before we bring them in,” Boateng Gyan added.

Ghana picked only a single point from a possible nine in all three matches played, a performance which left them rock bottom on the standings at the end of the group fixtures.