How Black Stars players ate roadside food, washed jerseys at Mali 2000: Sammy Kuffour recounts horrible experiences

How Black Stars players were forced to eat roadside food, and washed jerseys at Mali 2000:  Sammy Kuffour recounts horrible experiences. Indeed, so much happens behind the scene in every Black Stars camp, and it takes stories like these to set the records straight.

The Ghana Black Stars went to the African Cup of Nations, Mali 2000 with the hope of winning the trophy but the players ended up eating roadside food, washing their own jersey, slept in low-class hotel and received the worse treatment ever from management. Former Black Stars and Baryen Munich Star Samule Osei Kuffour has opened up on the realities that greeted the playing body in Mali.

Black Stars defender, Samuel Osei Kuffour has indicated that Ghana was knocked out of the 2000 AFCON, as Nigeria beat the Black Star in 2000 AFCON quarter-final because of several factors including his sacking over fake news about him.

In 2002, when the Black Stars participated in the Africa Cup of Nations in Mali, defender Samuel Osei Kuffour and his colleagues were treated badly. Osei Kuffour told the press that the squad ate roadside food and slept at a low-quality hotel. According to Kuffour, Michael Essien left the camp because of the poor situation.

“It was catastrophic. We were eating at the roadside. It was a terrible experience because we were eating at the roadside. We were the first team to get there and you would weep. It was very bad. In our first hotel, the toilet was close to the show. It was horrible. You can ask the players,” he told Dan Kwaku Yeboah TV.

“No one has asked why Michael Essien left the team’s camp. We have to credit the FA now because now a lot of things are being provided. We didn’t even have t-shirts. I used to take money from the South African camp to our camp. We were going to the dining hall like students. I didn’t complain but they were looking for someone to blame. Ben Koufie apologized to me before he died,” he added.

In addition to players being dismissed from the camp for appalling treatment, Kuffour was one of them after Ghana’s initial game against Morocco. He said that after his wife gave birth, he called to see how she was doing, but Cudjoe Fiano and Osam Duodo, two members of the management committee, accused him of going to a nightclub and fired him as a result.

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“After the Morocco game, I went out to call my wife who had just given birth in Germany. When I returned, Fianoo asked that I report to the management because they were looking for me. The report was that I had gone to the nightclub but where we were there was nothing. The moment I entered, my passport was on a table and there was a ticket plus an envelope. I asked them if they wanted me to return. It was Osam Duodo and Fianoo who were in the room. So I called the players and informed them of what had happened. By the time I got to the airport, the news was already in Germany so Bayern had a plane waiting for me. I flew back to Germany that same day. My coach asked if I could play and I said yes. It was an FA Cup match, we won 3-2 and I scored the winning goal.”

Ghana was eliminated from the tournament after finishing second in Group B, which also included Morocco, Burkina Faso, and South Africa. The Black Stars were eliminated after losing 1-0 to West African rival Nigeria.