Kevin-Prince Boateng rips Ghana World Cup trip after suspension

Ghana’s disaster of a 2014 World Cup ended with player requesting $3 million in cash to be paid, players and coaches getting in to fights and star defender Kevin-Prince Boateng getting suspended and sent home before the group stage was up. On Monday, Boateng ripped in to the Ghana federation for the conditions players had to “suffer” and more.

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Boateng’s biggest bone of contention? Sitting in coach on an airplane. Oh the horror, right? Via German paper Bild:

“The flight from Miami to Brazil then a week later took twelve hours. We sat and concentrated in Economy Class. The legs ached. It sounds like for the average citizen might seem strange, but for a competitive athlete that is a disgrace.”

He later let it be known exactly how he felt about manager James Appiah, bluntly saying “no” when asked if Appiah is a good manager. In fact, he went on to describe him as a manager with no tactical prowess either.

“No. But I have respect for him, for each person. I have accepted and respected all decisions.” Boateng went on to describe a meeting in which Appiah begged him to come back to the Ghana setup and guaranteed him playing time that never came. 

It escalated even further with Boateng flat out calling the entire Ghana federation “liars.”

“I told them straight out that they are liars…We were just lied (to).”

Boateng was also asked about the famous money issue, but stated he and others have come to expect that from the Ghana federation and said it was perhaps the smallest problem they had at this World Cup.

One could argue Ghana was the 2014 World Cup version of France from South Africa, after all both teams seemed to implode on themselves and were subjects of nasty internal strife. Heck, both teams faced difficult group tasks and ended up with just one point from group play.

However, it is clear that Ghana had many more internal problems with the basics and it may have been less about soccer issues than living conditions for the athletes. Those poor soles.