Tuesday morning saw one of the most tempting stories in the Ghanaian media landscape.
One Mallam Issaku Salia leveled an astonishing allegation on Rashid Sumaila claiming he was the brain behind the career threatening injury of fellow Ghana international Jerry Akaminko who painfully lost out on a world cup slot after landing awkwardly on his ankle.
I have taken the last 24 hours to reflect on the issue because I know the two players involved [Rashid Sumaila the supposed culprit and Jerry Akaminko the victim]
There is one thing in this country that unites us as a nation regardless of our political division or economic difficulties and that is when our Black Stars play. So at first sight I did not want to touch on this issue.
But I have highlighted a few inconsistencies after listening to Mallam Issaku Salia over and over again.
- There were only four central defenders in the team:
Kwesi Appiah might not be the most astute coach when it comes to tactics but going through his call ups as coach of the Black Stars he tried to have two players for each position and clearly named Akaminko and Sumaila as deputies to John Boye and Jonathan Mensah.
In-fact the coach actually travelled to South Africa a month before his call ups to assure Sumaila, then with Mamelodi Sundowns and Fatau Dauda with Orlando Pirates of their place in his team, it’s does not make sense to hire a spiritualist to eliminate anyone knowing your place in the team was assured.
- Rashid- Sumaila was based in South Africa and had just won the PSL with Sundown, he made a lot of money at that time:
This point is quite farfetched but I remember Rashid Sumaila in 2014 was about the most developed Ghanaian defender because he had played in 23 of the 30 games in the PSL as Mamelodi Sundowns went on to lift the South African Premier League, each players was given hefty amount for their contribution and he mirrored his club form at national level when he played in the games against Egypt in the final qualification game.
Having made a lot of money as a 21-year-old in 2014 the common word during interviews with Sumaila was content its certainly does not reflect on the wild claims being leveled by Mallam Issaku.
- Both Rashid and Jerry started the game against Holland: Mostly there is vigorous competition between two players competing in the same position but in the case of Rashid and Jerry both had played back up to John and Jonathan and both were clearly satisfied to step in when the need be, these claims would have made more sense had one been kept on the bench and the other being brought on to replace him the other i do not see where the need to eliminate Jerry comes into this equation.
I am just a journalist I know very well that there are some things that happen in the spiritual world that is beyond human comprehension but if there is one thing I am certain of, it is that we do not need wild claims without substance…This would do damage to the national team than the two players involved.
By Rahman Osman