Black Stars midfielder Afriyie Acquah has rebuffed claims that he withdrew from Ghana’s team that engaged Japan due to disagreements with the management of the team over appearance fees.
Rumours emerged two weeks ago that Acquah and compatriot midfielder Mubarak Wakaso took a decision to boycott the game after it emerged that the management of the team had decided to slash the appearance fees from 5000 USD to 2000 USD.
Those rumours were confirmed by Black Stars coach, Kwesi Appiah in an interview with online portal 442gh.
“Unfortunately we were all supposed to leave Ghana for this friendly game but they opted out of the team with reasons being that the allowance is not what they expected”.
“The two of them being senior players in the team thought it was important for them to have been spoken to by Osei Parma [Chairman of Black Stars Management Committee] before such arrangements. Their argument was that Parma didn’t inform them earlier. “Personally I think they should have told me that due to these circumstances they won’t travel with the team.
But Afriyie Acquah who took his turn of GhanaWeb’s Sports Check program dismissed the claims by his coach.
Acquah who refused to give the exact reasons for his inability to join his teammates for the first friendly game against Japan intimated that money has never been a motivation for him when it comes to playing for his national team.
He asserts that the passion and love he has for his country are the ingredients that push him to give out his best for Ghana.
“No, it was not like that but this is on TV so I cannot say exactly what happened. The story was different and our own personal thing was different. You just have to leave it like that. Football is passion. If not for the passion I had for the country, I would have told you that I will play for money. The money is not important”, Afriyie said.
Source: ghanaweb.com
