GFA vs Ministry row really affected the team - Avram Grant

pulse-ghana admin

February 9, 2017 12:51 PM

Avram Grant says the seeming tension between both parties “affected the team a lot”.

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Ghana once again failed to win the Africa Cup of Nations, having last won the trophy in 1982.

The Black Stars were beaten by two goals to nil by eventual winners Cameroon in the semi-finals of the tournament.

But events before the tournament kickstarted were dominated by bonus disagreements between erstwhile Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuije and the hierarchy of the GFA.

The bad blood between the pair escalated even more when the Sports Minister asked that local players be used for Ghana’s dead rubber match against Rwanda in the last game of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

And the former Chelsea boss says the row between the Sports Ministry and the GFA left the team facing the consequences.

“I don’t want to speak too much about negative things but it did affect the team. It affected the team a lot,” Grant said on StarrChat with Bola Ray when asked about the row between both parties.

“Sometimes there are disagreements, sometimes people don’t see eye to eye on certain issues, but it never needs to be [important] instead of the main things.

“I said to the followers, and everybody, that the Black Stars is the most important thing. We need to give them the tools [to succeed].”

The Israeli also had his say on whether suspended duo Sulley Muntari and Kevin-PrinceBoateng should be invited back into the Black Stars fold.

According to him both players are “fantastic” and must be recalled into the national team.

When asked which of the controversial duo he would like to be invited, Grant said: “Both of them. I knew Muntari at 20 [years]. He is a very, very good player. Great player. I think his career could even have been better.

“Boateng was my player at Portsmouth. He was fantastic. He was one of the reasons that we went to the final of the FA Cup [in 2009]. We had a team that was with a lot of problems and we lost to Chelsea in the final by 1-0.

"The only problem was that he missed a penalty when it was 0-0. But they are both fantastic players.”

pulse-ghana admin