Stars Coach Face Sanctions

SoccerExpress - The Ghana Football Association (GFA) will sanction Black Stars coach Burkhard Ziese who has come under fire for Ghana's failure to play the third-placed match in the just-ended four-nation invitational tournament in Nigeria if the Association finds him culpable.

Ghana failed to play against Iran in the high profile tournament, which involved Nigeria and Cameroun, and according to reports Ziese refused to allow his boys to play the game when he realised the pitch was soggy.

Burkhard has come under fire since the abortive match and according to an FA source Black Stars Management Board Chairman, Kojo Quarshie has furnished the Association with the report on the tournament, which is currently being studied.

"According to the FIFA rules it is only the match commissioner and the referee who can determine whether the condition of the pitch is inappropriate for football and not the coach of one club," the FA official stated.

The source said the matter has so embarrassed the FA that if it is convinced that Burkhard was responsible for the failure to play the match he would be severely reprimanded and ordered to write a letter of apology to the Nigerian Football Association (NFA).

The public's patience for Burkhard has waned thin over the past weeks following his inability to pick a standing national team and his continuous reference to players invited to camp as a national select side is being seen as a façade to hide his inability to put together a strong representative side of both local and foreign-based players.

Asked if the NFA had sent a report to the GFA on the Stars episode, the FA source replied in the negative, but stated that it was imperative that the Association quickly investigate the matter and send a formal apology to the NFA to avert strained relations between the two bodies.

According to the FA official the Association was very much aware of the possible outbursts of Burkhard hence its initial decision to impose a 6-month probation clause in his contract, but pressure from the media and other stakeholders ensured that the clause was expunged and the danger is that if Ghana fails to qualify for CAN 2004 it would still be saddled with Ziese even though he has failed his first major test.

Ghana has two important international games coming up on June 15 and 22 against Liberia and Uganda in an Olympic and Nations Cup qualifier respectively.

So far it is unclear how many of the 45 foreign-based stars Burkhard listed in his inaugural press conference have responded to the national call. The FA has remained mute about the issue and Burkhard who was scheduled to hold a press conference last Wednesday to answer such questions denied any knowledge of such a media forum.