We Play Black Stars For Love Not For Money - Jonathan Mensah

Defender, Jonathan Mensah has dismissed that notion that the current crop of Black Stars player only plays for money.

The Columbus Cre centre back has been an integral part of the Black Stars for the past ten years playing in the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup.

According to the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup winner, despite some incidents that have cast the players in a bad light, patriotism remains paramount when they are invited to represent the country.

The senior national team players have failed to fully get the backing of Ghanaians following the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

This was due to the refusal of players to train ahead of their final Group game against Portugal until they were paid their appearance fees of a 100,000 USD each.

Ghanaians believe that the over fixation on money derailed Ghana’s World Cup 2014 campaign.

“The first thing is to love Ghana because we are Ghanaians.

‘When you are called upon to play either you love the nation or you love something else.

“What makes fans think we don’t love the team?

“Because If I don’t love the team I don’t need to come waste my time, the nation’s time and the coaches time as well.

“If you don’t love it don’t come around it but if you do then you are all in.

“I believe whoever gets a call up comes in wholeheartedly with the intention to help the team move forward,” he revealed on Citi TV’s Face to Face.

The 29-year-old was recently named Columbus Crew defender of the year for 2019 and is also a part of the current Ghana squad participating in the Afcon 2021 qualifiers.