Ghana's World Cup team has been growing increasingly frustrated since the tournament began, not just because they haven't won a game,
but because players had not been paid their appearance fees since the event started. Sports Minister Joseph Yamin said that the payment delay occurred because players and officials could not settle on the form of this payment and there difficulties in transporting the payment.
The players decided on 3 million dollars total in cash.
The players made it clear that they preferred cash to wire payments, which is how the government generally sends money. Yamin tried to reason with them, explaining that sending $3 million dollars in cash is not only difficult, but also not a very good idea, "but the players are still insisting that they wouldn’t take anything but physical cash." There were fears that the team could stop playing due to protests over payments.
Ghana President John Dramani Mahama personally
called the players to make sure they wouldn't stop. President Mahama spoke with the players and assured them that the payment was on its way to Brazil. Complying with the demands of the athletes, Ghana government officials financed the cash and put it on a plane headed to Brazil.
