Ghana coach under heavy fire

The knives are out in Ghana for the head of Cecil Jones Attuquayefio after the national team's second consecutive World Cup qualifying defeat, in Sudan on Sunday.

The loss was the third in a row altogether under the Ghanaian-born coach, who took local side Hearts of Oak to a quartet of titles last season, including the African Champions League and the Super Cup.

Defeat to Congo Kinshasa in a Nations Cup qualifier last month and a 3-1 humiliation against Liberia in Accra has made Attuquayefio unpopular well before his three-year contract expires in 2004.

Against Sudan, Attuquayefio ran into criticism for fielding his best strikers, Ishmael Addo and Emmanuel Osei Kuffour, in their wrong positions.

Jones has also been hounded for not taking a bold move to use the entire Hearts of Oak squad for the World Cup qualifiers as the fans lose confidence in the foreign-based players.

Lucrative contract

Press reports accused the foreign-based players of indiscipline and that Attuquayefio was unable to maintain order in camp before the last two matches.

Last month, the former Ghanaian international was said to have signed the most lucrative contract for any local coach in the history of the country's football with $5,000 as a monthly salary.

Many Ghanaians believe Attuquayefio would find it hard to resign because he would lose such a big wage, which is an amount most local coaches could only dream of.

However, former Black Stars skipper Abedi Pele has come to the coach's defence, saying he should be given a chance to continue the challenge and should not be made a scapegoat for the disaster.

Ghana lost 1-0 to Sudan in Khartoum and slumped to fourth in Group B of the qualifiers.