Essien, 2 Others In Trouble

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has indicated that it will launch an investigation into the behavior of three senior members of the Black Stars following their absence from the squad that travelled to Angola for yesterday's international friendly with Angola.

DAILY GUIDE SPORTS has learnt that the trio, Sulley Muntari, Michael Essien and Asamoah Gyan, could face sanctions if they are found culpable.

According to a statement signed by Kofi Nsiah, General Secretary of the GFA, his outfit “wrote to and secured the release of 20 players to honour the World Cup qualifying match against Mali on the 15th November 2009 and the international friendly against Angola on the 18th November, 2009.

“Unfortunately three players namely Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari and Asamoah Gyan did not travel with the team to Angola on Monday night for the Angola friendly,” the statement said.

It added: “The players stayed out without the permission of the Head Coach, Mr. Milovan Rajevac. The FA views this act with great concern and will investigate the matter further to inform its next course of action.”

DAILY GUIDE SPORTS gathered that not only had the players gone AWOL (absent without leave), their phones were also switched off, prompting some Ghanaians to ascribe various reasons as to why they could not be found.

One of the reasons was that the trio did not attach importance to the friendly with Angola, preferring to allow youngsters like Dominic Adiyiah, Agyemang Badu and Opoku Agyemang to have some ample playing time.

Whatever the reason was, it is left to be seen if the FA can indeed crack the whip especially when the Africa Nations Cup 2010 is around the corner.   

By Mohammed Muniru Kassim
Source: Daily Guide - Daily Guide