Sports News of Friday, 26 September 2014

Source: GNA

Coach Appiah stuns Dzamefe C’mssion

Former Ghana coach, Kwesi Appiah, on Thursday stunned the Justice Senyo Dzamefe Presidential Commission of Inquiry with startling revelation about the appearance fee for the Black Stars during the summer World Cup in Brazil.

Testifying before the commission, Appiah, said members of the Black Stars kept their $100,000 appearance fee in the dressing room during their third group match against Portugal after receiving the money on the eve of the game.

The coach added that, the players also spent the entire night before the game counting their money, saying “this also affected their strength since they did not have adequate sleep before the match”.

“My Lord, I believe this also affected the performance of the team in our game against Portugal because it affected their concentration.

“I think the issue about money had a psychological effect on the players. In football you need total concentration to deliver and we lacked this during the game against Portugal”.

Justice Dzamefe, chairman of the commission was stunned with this revelation saying “this is the first time I am hearing this. How can you keep appearance fee of $100,000 each in the dressing in another country?”.

Justice Dzamefe said, “the system created problems for you. You did not do anything wrong, it was the system. The team could have done well had it not been issues with the money”.

According to chairman of the Commission, Ghana has no moral courage to blame Coach Kwesi Appiah for the performance of the team at the World Cup.

“So far as I am concerned, no one can blame the coach for anything. The system failed him”, he stated.