Former national goalkeeper, Abukari Damba, now goalkeeper's trainer for the Black Meteors, has been accused of bribery. Damba was reportedly banished from a make-shift Meteors camp prior to an international friendly against the Iranian national team in Tehran last Thursday, after an alleged scheme with some Iranian gamblers to influence the result of the Ghana-Iran match with a 2-0 win for the host was blown. He is to be summoned before the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to answer charges that he succeeded in convincing seven Meteors players to throw the match with a $1,000 bait and a 50 percent share from each player, only for him to hit a snag when the eighth player, Tuaha Khamix, decided to playa Judas. According to the Graphic Sports quoting sources close to the Meteors team, Damba allegedly contacted Khamix with the pretext of linking him to those "agents" for a possible foreign transfer deal as was the case with his other teammates, but Khamix preferred to be loyal and accordingly reported the matter to his head coach, Cecil Jones Attuquayefio. For fear of being implicated in the looming scandal, Coach Attuquayefio had no option than to report the matter to the Chairman of the Black Meteors Management Committee, Mr Randy Abbey, who doubled as the leader of delegation. Randy was said to have acted swiftly like an eagle pouncing on its prey by asking Damba to step aside as the goalkeepers' trainer. He was also allegedly barred from joining the team to the stadium for the match, while his per diem for the trip was frozen. The Graphic Sports said when it contacted Coach Attuquayefio on the issue yesterday, he declined to comment with the explanation that "as both an administrator and a technical man, I know it is only appropriate for me to submit my report first before I can say anything". Efforts to reach Damba for his version of the story has not been fruitful. Coach Attuquayefio, who was only willing to talk about the match, described the 4-2 defeat suffered by the Meteors against an experienced Iranian side as a good exposure for his team which is preparing for the All Africa Games. He said his team was depleted following the absence of key local players like Isaac Vorsah, Sadat Bukari and Bawa Mumuni who missed the game due to foreign transfer moves. "Apart from that, new players like Francis Bossman, Addoquaye Addo, Kweku Essien and Stephen Ofei had no time to train with the team before the match", Jones revealed. Source: Graphic Sports