Brazil 2014: Kwesi Appiah wasn’t firm – Afriyie-Ankrah

Former Sports Minister Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah has stated that the unfortunate events in Brazil during the 2014 World Cup could have been avoided if Coach Kwesi Appiah was firmer with the players.

The Black Stars of Ghana were knocked out of the tournament in the first round after picking just a point from a maximum nine.

There were reports of player indiscipline, some of which degenerated into fights as well as government's failure to pay the appearance fees of the footballers on time.

In the end, government had to fly over 3 million dollars to settle the appearance fees of the players, a conduct that reduced Ghana to global ridicule.

But speaking for the first time since the 2014 World Cup debacle, the Minister of State at the Presidency said the players could have behaved properly if Kwesi Appiah had stood his ground and instilled discipline.

“Kwesi Appiah is a very nice person and I think with the benefit of hindsight he should have been firmer particularly with those incidents...in that instance he should have been firmer and instilled the discipline,” Mr. Afriyie Ankrah told Bola Ray on Starr Chat Wednesday.