Black Stars Coach Kwesi Appiah has confirmed that Mubarak Wakaso and Afriyie Acquah pulled out of Ghana’s international friendly matches against Japan and Iceland due to agitations over appearance fees.

The duo opted out of the games after being told they would receive an appearance fee of $2000 for each game instead of the usual $5000 the players get for friendlies, an amount they deemed ‘inadequate.’
Each player will now earn $4000 from the two games instead of $10,000.

Speaking in an interview after the Black Stars defeated Japan by 2-0, Appiah expressed his frustration over the situation.

“Unfortunately we were all supposed to leave Ghana for this friendly game but they opted out of the team with reasons being that the allowances being paid is not what they expected.”

“The two of them being senior players in the team thought it’s important that they’ve been spoken to by Osei Parma before such arrangements. Their argument was that Parma didn’t talk back to them so they felt that they’ve been ignored.”

He continued: “Personally I think they should have told me that due to these circumstances they won’t travel with the team.”

Kwesi Appiah’s team will travel to Reykjavik to play Iceland on June 7.

By Daraja Mutari/Ghanaguardian.com