Chelsea’s Ghanaian born midfielder Michael Essien has such a huge support in Ghana that whenever his team wins and especially when he scored a goal, it becomes more or less a national celebration. Surprisingly, however the two goals he scored on Saturday to help Chelsea beat Wolverhampton 4-0 has generated an intense debate about his commitment to his country following his refusal to play for Ghana against Angola last Tuesday.

Many Ghanaian football fans are sad because the impression created is that Essien was in such a hurry to play for Chelsea, he cared less about the national team.

It may be recalled that Essien together with two other foreign players, Sulley Muntari and Asamoah Gyan kept the Angolan chartered aircraft waiting at the Kotoko International Airport in Accra for several hours when they failed to make the trip.

This behaviour by the three senior players of the national team, Black Stars, has caused a lot of embarrassment to the Ghanaian football officials and the Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac.The media is awash with a variety of furious comments and it is apparent fans expect some sort of sanctions from the football authorities to instill discipline into the national team.

It has emerged that Essien and co were not enthused that the coach gave permission to skipper Stephen Appiah and Koomson to skip the Angolan match because of pressing demands from their clubs. This behaviour to many people, smacks of indiscipline.

The fact must be established that no matter the status of a player he cannot be a law unto himself. The coach always has the final say. Essien is undoubtedly Ghana’s most precious footballer at the moment and even though he might be irreplaceable he must not let the nation feel that he is indispensable.

The behaviour of the three players has created a very delicate problem that should be carefully handled. The CAN 2010 is just around the corner; do we sweep this matter under the carpet for the sake of not weakening the Black Stars? Or is it a question of cutting your nose to spite your face that is sacking them from the team damn the consequences.

I propose a middle course. Essien and Co must come out with a public apology and on top they should be fined by the Ghana Football Association.  Football is team work and each player must be made to feel that he is an integral part of the team. Sports practitioners can easily be swept off their feet by fame and money and they need to be taught how to develop a cool head.

Someone has said that Admiration is something that evaporates, Affection lasts.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports

FROM MY ARCHIVES

Nov 23rd 1993: Graham Taylor resigns as England soccer manager following the country’s failure to qualify for next year’s World Cup finals.