Ghana: Appiah Rubbishes Betting Claims
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Kickoff (Cape Town)
6 September 2008
Posted to the web 6 September 2008
Ghana captain Stephen Appiah has rubbished claims that the Black Stars lost their 2006 World Cup second round game against Brazil under the influence of an Asian betting syndicate.
Appiah who played his first competitive game since November 2007, says the claims are ridiculous and a ploy by the author Declan Hill to boost his book sales.
The Canadian claims in a book on sports and betting that Black Stars had accepted money from an Asian syndicate to lose that World Cup qualifier by at least 0-2. It ended 3-0 in favour of the Brazilians.
"When we discuss this we are exactly what Declan wants which is to create publicity for the book and drive up sales," he told KickOffGhana.com. "The truth of the matter is that I have never accepted money to influence the outcome of a game and never will.
"If anyone has doubts, they should look back at the game and what it meant to us. To suggest we will throw all that away for some 20,000 dollars is ridiculous.
Appiah admits meeting Hill but insist that he had told him nothing to merit the claims. "He interviewed me but all I told him was that we are given money to win. Maybe he misunderstood me but I was only talking about winning bonus which is a common thing from the Ghana Football Association.
"As professionals none of us would give up the chance to beat Brazil and make the last eight of the World Cup for the sort of money he talks about. And in all modesty many of us earn much more than that.
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"The amount of money he talks about compared to the money we made from reaching the second round alone makes his claim even more laughable."
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