Ghana midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng’s Family Targeted
Ghana midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has been on the receiving end of criticism from German media and fans after he tackled German captain Michael Ballack in the FA Cup Final. The late ball tackle resulted in Ballack suffering an injury to his ankle that ruled him out of Germany’s world cup squad. Boateng walked off with a yellow card, whereas millions of German fans were left ruing the loss of their captain and one of FIFA’s greatest living players (Ballack was selected by world-renowned striker Pelé at FIFA 100 in 2004) The attacking fielder for Portsmouth is set to take part in his first World Cup in South Africa, representing Ghana, amid fan uproar and what he claims to be ‘unfair targeting’ on his family.
Boateng says that his family has been under attack from both angry fans and media, and that following the incident, him and his family have been turned into an "evil enemy".
Boateng, who has openly and repeatedly apologized for the unfortunate tackle, and said that there was no menace in his tackle, and all he wanted was to get the ball rather than meaning any intentional harm to Ballack. His apology, however, seems to have fallen on deaf ears, as German fans have still not gotten over the incident, and since the FA Cup Final he has been the target of constant media outcry.
Boateng, though born in Germany, will be leading Ghana in the upcoming FIFA World Cup, as his mother is from Ghana, while the irony is that his half-brother is part of the probable German squad for the World Cup. Adding to that, Ghana and Germany will come face to face in the Group D encounter on June 23 at Soccer City (Johannesburg), and the two brothers may be indulging in a face-off on the field.
The Portsmouth midfielder has said that it is totally unfair how his family has been targeted, while Ballack’s reaction has gone unnoticed.
In an official interview with Sport Bild, Boateng said: "What is happening has gone too far," and that many people were ignoring the fact that he too was humiliated by the slap around the face he received from Blues midfielder Michael Ballack. Boateng claims that he has apologized three times to Ballack, but it has not made any difference, as he continues to receive immense backlash following the unfortunate incident. He claims that people are overstepping the mark by including his family in the verbal onslaught.
The Ghana player also said that there are number of Chelsea players who were present on the pitch at the time, and they are eye-witnesses of the incident in question, and most of them agree that there was no harm intended. "I have had contact with two or three Chelsea players and they say that a foul like that can happen," he said, adding "They say I should not let what is being reported about me get to me. It was not intentional. I don't want to be seen as a victim, but I would like criticism to be constructive." He also maintains that while he accepts his foul, Ballack’s direct assault on him was a much serious offence. Germany’s coach Joachim Low recently commented that Boateng’s foul should have warranted him a red card, causing Boateng to respond that Low had previously not criticized Ballack for hitting fellow teammate Lukas Podoloski during a 2009 match in Wales. He said that this sort of double-faced behavior is one of the reasons why he left the German team to represent Ghana.
Now the issue, which was believed to be a minor one at the start, has escalated into a big saga, which is entirely unnecessarily, as Kevin Prince Boateng is an honest individual and one can safely say that let alone Boateng, but any professional footballer would not intentionally try to hurt a player in a manner which might eventually cost someone his career, and the incident that took place in the FA final should be settled once and for all. Ballack should come out and request the media and his countless fans to leave Boateng and his family alone, and get on with life as the World Cup is upon us, and the German nation should focus more on the game rather than a now irrelevant episode.
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