Sack the Disrespectful Triumvirate

If reports we hear about Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari and Asamoah Gyan boycotting the Black Stars' friendly international match against Angola are true, those three will have to receive severe punishments for doing that.

What is happening to the most important sport in this country? Why is it that the people we invest our emotions in by supporting them in all football matches, who sometimes rent our hearts in many pieces for the kind of results they get, and whom we easily forgive, take us for granted this way?

A few weeks ago when the Satellites played against the Brazilians in the finals of the Under 20 FIFA Youth Championships in Egypt, a colleague in the newsroom of TODAY was surprised to see some women at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle crying and praying to God to help the Ghanaian team win. He was particularly surprised because he is not enthusiastic about football and had never seen a sight like that in his life.

He told the office the following day that he was shocked and humbled by the sheer emotional and spiritual backing the Satellites received from the most unlikely of football fans – women. He was so sure some of them could have lost their lives if the results had gone in favour of the Brazilians.

This is ample proof of the fact that football is the soul of the nation and for any 10 people you see in the streets praying for any national team, there could be about 500 more doing so silently in their rooms.

So why do our players have to take us for granted? Is it because they think that they can place their personal interests above those of the nation? How did they get to where they are anyway?

If the nation did not give them the chance to exhibit what they have on international platforms, would they be where they are today? Or is it because we, as a nation, forgive so easily?

In the 2006 edition of the African Nations Cup, Michael Essien refused to play for Ghana , citing injury. There were comments flying in all directions about how ungrateful he was and the need for him to be perpetually axed from the national team. But some kind-hearted Ghanaians defended him and made it look like he was being vilified for no reason.

Later, he came to apologize and everyone accepted him back into the team. He played for the Stars in the FIFA World Cup the same year and that helped him to further raise his profile. Today, he has started throwing dirt at the nation again after everyone praised him for launching a foundation that aims at helping the citizens of his hometown in the Awutu area.

Sulley Muntari has been known for sometime now as arrogant. He says he is not and some of his supporters say likewise. But what positive things can be said about a player who is consistently linked with acts that are not particularly encouraging in the Stars camp?

He is the same one who was said to have had very hot exchanges with then Minister of Youth and Sports, Muntaka Mubarack in camp when the Stars were preparing to play the first group match against Benin in the joint African Cup of Nations / FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Those who watched the match on Metro TV saw the lackluster manner in which he played. The commentator actually described him as “half-asleep” on the pitch.

The point we are making here is that these players have shown, a number of times, that they care more about themselves than the national team. Why do we continue to pamper them? As for Asamoah Gyan, we do not want to discuss him here because even when he answers the national call and he fails to perform, the insults he gets even extends to his family. How will somebody in that corner hold the nation to ransom?

Ghana has enough talent to replace these players. If they think they are too big to play for the national team in such “small” matches, we should let them know that we are prepared to exclude them from big matches like the CAN and the World Cup. Period!

Let's start by excluding them from the team that goes to Angola . If the boys who play for Ghana in Africa do well, and we are positive they will, we take them to South Africa 2010 and say good-bye forever to these “stars” who are bigger than the nation that made them who they are today. Shame on them!

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