Muntari was axed by Ghana over disciplinary problems
12/19/2009 12:22:06 AM -
The exlcusion of Inter Milan Sulley Muntari from Ghana's final squad for next month's African Cup of Nations has sent shockwaves through Ghana football but his unruliness is what has led to his axing.
The highly-rated enforcer was expected to play a key part in the tournament but after snubbing a meeting with coach Milovan Rajevac over his disruptive behaviour just last week, Muntari put the nail on his own coffin.
The Serbian manager arrived in Milan last week to attempt to rein Muntari in over his recent indiscipline in camp, the midfielder told the coach he is too busy to attend the meeting.
Rajevac stayed in Milan for two days and attempts to convince Muntari to turn up for the meeting fell on deaf ears which prompted the Serbian to axe him from the squad.
But this is about the fifth time this year that Muntari has openly disobeyed the authorities and flouted national team camping rules.
Muntari along with Michael Essien and Asamoah Gyan intentionally absented themselves from a recent friendly with Angola.
The trio were fined US$5,000 each and asked to apologise to their coaches and national team colleagues as well as Ghanaians.
Even though high-profile Essien and Gyan apologised and admitted that they will pay the fine, Muntari refused to apologise and rejected the idea of paying the fine.
The Inter Milan ace is accused of arriving late for camp while he has been seen driving in town at night when he was supposed to be in Black Stars camp.
His absence for June's World Cup qualifiers was suspicious, coming few months after he threatened to quit the national team when his girlfriend had a clash with a policeman.
His in absence youngster Kwadwo Asamoah impressed which has further given Rajevac the ammunition to fire Muntari, hoping he can reform ahead of June's World Cup and also send the message to other players.
Muntari has recently suffered a dip in form while playing for Ghana and Inter and was this week played as a left-back defender in a midweek game in Italy.
With the African Cup of Nations and World Cup approaching these issues of indiscipline could wreck the chances of the Black Stars at the tournament.
Similar issues of indiscipline among some Black Stars players went unchecked in the 1990s and this resulted in their patchy form then even though it had key players like Abedi Pele and Anthony Yeboah.
