Ghana suspend Boateng, Muntari

Ghana midfielders Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari have been suspended from their World Cup squad with immediate effect after they clashed with coach Kwesi Appiah and a Ghana Football Association (GFA) official.

The GFA, which said it had solved a row over player appearance fees, confirmed the decision on its website (www.ghanafa.org) ahead of the team’s Group G game against Portugal in Brasilia on Thursday.

Boateng was sanctioned following “vulgar verbal insults targeted at coach Kwesi Appiah during the team’s training session in Maceio this week”, the GFA said.

Muntari’s suspension was handed down “in the wake of his unprovoked physical attack on an executive committee member of the GFA and a management member of the Black Stars, Mr. Moses Armah, on Tuesday 24th June, 2014 during a meeting”.

Muntari had punched Armah during a meeting over the unpaid money as senior players rounded on team officials for not keeping promises, a team source added.

Boateng had shown “no remorse for his actions” and both players had their World Cup accreditation withdrawn.

Boateng denied swearing at the coach but said he accepted the suspension and wished his colleagues well for their last Group G game.

“No one should think that I insulted the coach or did anything wrong,” he told the website of German’s Sport Bild magazine (www.sportbild.de).

“Yesterday, there was an incident during training. Sulley Muntari and I had a joked over a duel. I said that he had handled the ball. He said ‘no’. Then I laughed and said: ‘Hey, you’re the referee or what?’ Then we both laughed. The coach stopped the training and asked why we were laughing? We said that everything was okay. He then sent me to the changing room.

“After training I went to the coach and asked him if he had a minute for me. I asked him what he had against me? Then he started yelling at me. He insulted me.”