GhanaFA

Boakye wants Ghana call up

16 years ago
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Striker Isaac Boakye says he wants to continue playing for Ghana even after coach Claude Le Roy vowed not consider him for future assignments.

The 25-year-old says he will seek audience with the Frenchman to explain why he had been unable to respond to recent invitations.

Boakye, who plays for German Bundesliga side Wolfsburg, has not featured in the Black Stars squad since September 2005 after falling out with previous coach Ratomir Dujkovic.

Le Roy took over from the Serbian in September last year and Boakye has since failed to answer all three call-ups made by the Frenchman.

But Boakye insists he has always been willing to play for the Black Stars except that the timing of the invitations have been wrong.

"I am always prepared to play for the national team except that sometimes I am injured and not fit to play at the right time when they call me," Boakye told BBC Sport.

"I am ready to play whenever they call me.

"Whenever I get the invitation and I have a problem I have to make that clear to them.

"I cannot come here pretending to be alright, get unto the pitch and then go through a poor game.

"That will hurt my own reputation and I don't want that."

But Boakye, who has scored five goals in 18 caps, says when the players make the sacrifices to play for the national team, the Ghana Football Association must also take good care of them.

"I have been bogged down by too many injuries and a lot of them started from the national team," Boakye said.

"I have had to spend money from my own pocket to treat injuries I picked up on national assignments.

"After making all these sacrifices all I hear is constant bad stuff said about me by the authorities."

But Le Roy was not impressed with the striker's attitude towards national team call-ups.

"Boakye can play for Wolfsburg for the next 20 years and even be named the best player in Germany, but he will never play under me," the Frenchman said in February.

"I'm going to work with those prepared to sacrifice and die for the national flag."