A New Racism Scandal Before the World Cup

The fight against racism has made yet another victim in football. It happened again, and, if you think it's still related to African players, this time you are right. Ever since Eto'o's situations arose in Spain, more and more racist commentaries are beginning to appear in the international football. The latest come from Ghana.

A new conflict seemed to arise in Ghana, one of the countries qualified for the first time at a World Cup. And it happened to the man who has managed this great performance with the African team, Serbian Ratomir Djukovici. After the latest friendly match played by Ghana against Turkey - the final score was 1-1, with a second half equalizer from Ghana - coach Djukovici made a declaration that stunned the African football world.

"African black men are the most undisciplined footballers that I have ever coached", were the words by which he described his players. And it created a true explosion at Accra. Not taking into consideration the performances managed by him, or the fact that his words might have been wrongly interpreted by the media, the newspapers in Accra started an anti-Djukovici reaction, with titles like "Go to hell, Doya!"

As it appears, though, the Serbian coach was referring to the mentality of his players. After managing to get out in style from a very difficult group in the qualifiers, he became the man that brought Ghana to its first World Cup in the history of football. This was the main reason why he said: "how could anyone believe that I am a racist? If I were, I never would have come here in the first place. I was only talking about their mentality, that's all".

Still, it's more than possible that Djukovici will leave Ghana's bench. And that's not necessarily because the African Federation had given him an ultimatum, but because of the whole public opinion towards him: "I can't stay in a place that people don't want me. I would have wanted to stay and finish my work here, but now, that's just impossible", said Djukovici.

So, less than a 2 weeks before the FIFA World Cup gets under way, the Serbian could strike Ghana twice: first, through his affirmations, and second by leaving the national team. The African team will meet, in Group E of the competition, Italy, USA and Czech Republic.