LOS ANGELES - Alberta Sackey saw her streak of 44 consecutive starts for Ghana came to a startling halt when coach Okoe Aryee benched her.

Aryee said he decided not to start his star forward and biggest offensive weapon against Russia because of her poor play in Ghana's opening loss of the 2003 Women's World Cup.

"Last game she didn't play well, and so I told her to come off the bench for this game and give us some energy. Unfortunately the result was the same," said Aryee.

The 31-year-old Sackey sat for the first half and didn't get into the game until the 57th minute with the score already 2-0 for Russia. Russia went on to win 3-0.

Sackey, who is the 2002 African women's footballer of the year, was upset with Aryee saying she felt she did exactly what he asked. Sackey had started all 44 international games she played for Ghana.

"The coach wasn't consistent in what he wanted us to do," said Sackey who has 18 international goals.

"I am surprised by his remarks. In the first game he told me to play defensively and I did what he asked.

"You have to play the way you are told. In this game I tried to open it up so I could score."

Sackey's absence was apparent as Ghana suffered their second-straight defeat, bouncing them from contention in group D of the Women's World Cup.

Ghana lost to group favourite China 1-0 in their first game on Sunday.

Aryee said he thought some of his players looked tired. He said it wouldn't have made a difference if he had started inserted Sackey into the game sooner.

"There are high expectations for her," he said. "She had to sit down and come off the bench. She should have been able to change the flow of the game, but there were some players that could not play."

Aryee chose to start 22-year-old Myralyn Osei Agyemang at forward instead of Sackey. Osei Agyemang has just six caps and no goals for Ghana.

It wasn't until Sackey got into the game that Ghana started to put consistent pressure on the Russian goalkeeper Alla Volkova.

Sackey, who plays for Robert Morris College in Chicago, Illinois, had one excellent scoring opportunity on Thursday, breaking in alone against Volkova who came charging out of the net to block the shot.

Asked if he would start Sackey against Australia, coach Aryee said he would wait and see how the next few practices go.

"We will go into training, and then I will decide on whether she will start," he said.