Ex-England international and Liverpool legend John Barnes believes government’s failure to pay Black Stars appearance fees on time despite several promises damaged Ghana’s campaign at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Barnes, who is a pundit on African television continental sports broadcaster SuperSport, becomes the third high ranking person after ex-Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah and Ghana FA boss Kwesi Nyantakyi to make this conclusion.

The Black Stars boycotted training before their last group game against Portugal due to unpaid appearance fee and ex-Black Stars coach Appiah claimed it affected his tactical plans for the game.

According to the Ghana Football Association President, Kwesi Nyantakyi players were promised several times by government but failed to materialise which led the players to embark on the strike.

Barnes, an ex-Liverpool playmaker, believes it affected the West African’s performance at the World Cup.

“They (the Black Stars) could have gone far, had it not been the off the field issues in Brazil,” Barnes said citing the appearance fees saga that led to chaos in the Black Stars camp in Brazil.

Ghana failed to equal or surpass the record set in 2010 (quarter-finals) as they failed to progress beyond the group stages of the competition.