Parma midfielder Stephan Appiah is disappointed with coach Ulivieri: "I seriously train and when I play I try to do my best but a footballer in my age has to play. At the end of the season, together with my agent, I will decide what to do."
SHEPHEN APPIAH is walking a tightrope in the Italian Serie-A.
The aggressive midfielder, voted the Serie-A discovery of the year after the 1999-2000 soccer season, finds himself in the not too complimentary position of “bench warmer“ for AS PARMA. Fortunately for Appiah, the timing of his benching has nothing to do with his current form.
The young chap played just 11 minutes as a substitute in a mid week match and was simply flawless. Not the confrontational type, but neither a loser, the former Hearts of Oak favourite has taken a position that is both risky and bold. When X-files called up the young midfielder at his camp in Parma, he was in high spirit and minced no words to the effect that “ I have told the Coach I don’t like it on the bench.”
Now let me attempt to give a clear picture of the situation at Parma at present. New coach Renzo Oliviera is a man under pressure from the hugely demanding fans, the board of directors and the volatile Italian press. Coach Oliviera inherited a team of Stars bought by his predecessor Alberto Malisani including the “bomb” Patrick Mboma, Japanese star Hidetoshi Nakata, Argentinean Matheus Almeyda and Franco-Tunisian midfielder Sabri Laboushi, oh yes and of course, ”Il phenomenon” Stephen Appiah.
In sympathy with coach Oliviera, it will be hard to explain a defeat when you have players like Sava Milosovich and Marco Di-Vaio on the bench whilst the brilliant but relatively less experienced Appiah plays a full 90 minutes. Does it make sense to those who hold this view? You and I know this is a crap of an excuse but that’s the way it goes.
Stephen Appiah expressed his discomfort with his latest predicament in a heart to heart with his manager. It was a sincere move by the Ghanaian but an unwise one. The “filla” leaked to the Italian press who pounced on it like depraved vultures. The headlines that followed not only unsettled coach Oliviera. It greatly annoyed him. From frying pan to furnace but the position of the coach has not changed. Enquiries by Bologna and Leece for Appiah were swiftly turned away and recent speculation about interest from premiership campaigners Middlesborough has also been denied. So where does Stephen Appiah stand?
“I am not worried because the coach knows what I can do yet he keeps me on the bench”…strong words indeed for someone whose mental toughness his coach questioned in a recent interview with an Italian sports daily. The language and culture barriers face every African footballer and if you are black you need to be twice as fast, commit less mistakes and score more goals than your white “brothers. The options available are two. Stay or quit!
Appiah will only stay if he gets a regular position but the club has 13 full internationals with non-Italian citizenship and of the remaining squad only 9 are born and bred Italian. Don’t worry; Stephen Appiah is not about to change nationality in order to win a first team place with Parma. The kid is looking ahead to Mali-2002, he has told coach Osam Duodo and more significantly Ghanaians “ you watch me in Mali”.
