Pele wants Kuffuor row resolved

Ghana legend Abedi 'Pele' Ayew wants Black Stars coach Ratomir Dujkovic and defender Samuel Kuffuor to kiss and make up for the sake of the national team.

Relations between the pair broke down in March this year after Kuffuor appeared to suggest in an interview with BBC Sport that officials had lied about the reasons for dropping him from the national team.

The 28-year-old defender had not been considered for Ghana's World Cup qualifier in DR Congo on the grounds that he was injured and unavailable.

But in an interview with BBC Sport, the outspoken Kuffuor pulled no punches and accused the Ghana Football Association of being economical with the truth.

Dujkovic then took umbrage at Kuffuor's remarks and banished the former Bayern Munich defensive stalwart to the international wilderness.

The schism deepened when, in a further interview with BBC Sport, Kuffuor, who plays for Italian side AS Roma, vowed never to apologise for his initial outburst.

He has since eaten humble pie and apologised but there has been no softening of stance from Dujkovic, the Serbian who led Rwanda to their maiden Nations Cup finals in 2004.

But in the wake of Ghana's qualification for their first World Cup, Pele has said the time has come for Dujkovic and Kuffuor to bury the hatchet.

"I believe that when a situation like this arises, you need to talk to the person who's in command and he may change his mind after hearing your side of the story," he told BBC Sport.

"It's only funny people who don't change their mind. I'm neutral on this issue but I know that human beings sometimes look back and see that some of the decisions they took were wrong.

"This is an issue which has divided people in Ghana but when the team is winning, it's difficult for anyone to say anything about the coach's decision not to pick Kuffuor.

"I was never in a situation like this as a player so it's not easy for me to know how to react when the situation becomes hot. But I think Kuffuor should meet the coach face-to-face.

"If he's going to rely on other people to send messages on his behalf, then there's going to be a lot of contradictory messages and this will only cause more problems."

Kuffuor's critics accuse him of having a 'prima donna' attitude and fear his re-instatement could create the perception that there is one law for him and a different law for everyone else.

But his supporters, fearful that their man could be frozen out of next year's World Cup finals, say he is the victim of a witch-hunt designed to root out players who speak out against incompetent GFA officials.