Christian Atsu says if Ghana lose to Portugal people will blame money

Published on: 26 June 2014
Christian Atsu says if Ghana lose to Portugal people will blame money
Atsu says if Ghana lose people will blame money

Ghana star Christian Atsu says his side must get a result in their final Group G match against Portugal, or people will think it is because of a row over appearance fees.

Ghana prepare for their crunch Group G game against Portugal in Brasilia on Wednesday.

The Ghanaian camp has been in disarray over the unpaid fees, and the government has sent more than $3 million cash to Brazil after players threatened to boycott the Portugal clash.

Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng, two of the biggest names in the squad, have been expelled for indiscipline, but Atsu says the remaining team members must put the controversies behind them and fight for a win against Portugal.

"It will be bad if we lose the game because I think people will be thinking it is because of the money," the 22-year-old said. "Now we have no option but to go and make our nation proud."

The Chelsea winger, who spent last season on loan at Vitesse, also insisted that there was no prospect of the players refusing to play if they did not receive the money.

“We are in the biggest tournament in the world now, if we don’t get the money, we’ll just put everything behind us because the whole world is watching us," he said.

"We are not going to say: ‘Because of the money we’re not going to play'. We love our nation and we are going to play for our nation.”

SEE ALSO: VIDEO: USA coach Klinsmann wants to beat Germany

Ghana face a struggle to get out of Group G after picking up a solitary point from their first two games. The lost 2-1 to the USA in their opener before a pulsating 2-2 draw with Germany.

Now a win against Portugal may still not be enough to see Ghana qualify if Germany and the United States play out a draw.

Will Ghana beat Portugal and qualify for the knockout stages?

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