Axed players must act professionally

The Technical Director of the Ghana Football Association, Oti Akenteng has urged players who did not make into Kwesi Appiah’s final 23-man squad for the Black Stars’ double header against Lesotho in Kumasi on June 1 and African champions Zambia on June 9 in Lusaka, to act professionally and refrain from making derogatory comments about the technical team of the Stars.
Oti Akenteng made the plea when Finder Sports asked him if his outfit was taking steps to talk to some of the players who did not make the final cut.
Very often national team players who do not make it into the final team for a tournament or a qualifier like the impending one have come out to make scathing allegations of bias and bribery against coaches and other officials of the team. But Oki Akenteng said he expected players who failed to make the grade to be professional about it.
“The players know it, they know they are 30 players and the number must be pruned to 23 so whoever fails to make the cut must accept it in good faith. They are professionals and I know they will handle it well. As you can see all the players are in good shape so whoever has been selected is going to do a good job so I believe there would be no problems at all,” Oti Akenteng stressed.
Six players, who were part of the preliminary squad named earlier this month, were left out of the team prior to the teams’ departure to Kumasi on Sunday. Goalkeeper Robert Dabuo of Wa All Stars, defender Masawudu Alhassan and Rashid Sumaila were among those left out.
The others players left out following the Black Stars’ six-day training session were Solomon Asante, Ishmael Yartey and Emmanuel Baffour. Coach Appiah praised the six players for their performance and commitment during the six-day training session.
The Black Stars, led by Kwesi Appiah, will take on Lesotho at the Baba Yara stadium on June 1 in a must-win 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier before taking on Zambia on June 9 in a game dubbed ‘repeat or revenge’.
Zambia eliminated the Black Stars at the semifinals of the last edition of the African Nations Cup hosted in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Zambia went on to win the trophy after defeating Ivory Coast in the grand finale.
The Black Stars are determined to make amends after failing to win a trophy in the last three decades and failing to reach the semifinal stage of the FIFA World Cup.