Word: muntari
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...Just 30 minutes into his team's disappointing 1-1 tie Sunday with Bari, Inter Milan's Portuguese-born coach Jose Mourinho pulled midfielder Sulley Muntari, a practicing Muslim, out of his home debut. "He was clearly struggling," Mourinho said of the 25-year-old Ghanaian player during the postgame press conference. "It's the month of Ramadan, and that's what affected his performance, which is why I took him out." (See pictures from Euro...
...note of other Muslim players who observe Ramadan with varying degrees of strictness, including Siena's Abdel Kader Ghezzal, an Algerian who scored a goal against AC Milan on Saturday. Though a practicing Muslim, Ghezzal says he does not fast on training and game days during Ramadan. Inter's Muntari is more observant, though he reportedly ate pasta at lunch on Sunday, while refusing water before the match. Most imams say there are just a few groups of people exempted from the daytime fast, including pregnant women, the sick and the elderly. Though the Koran doesn't cite any excuses...
...Stefano Tirelli, the Milan-based personal trainer for Muntari and several other top soccer stars from Africa and the Middle East, says that depending on the playing conditions and the individual, lack of food and water can limit performance. He recalls his experience working for the United Arab Emirates and Qatar national teams, which featured less robust players in 100°F (40°C) heat, saying their speed and stamina were indeed affected by the Ramadan fast. But Tirelli, a professor of integrated sports technique at Milan's Catholic University, warns against reducing athletic performance to a series...
...Arena hasn't said how he'll replace his two injured starters, although Jimmy Conrad, who played tough after subbing in against Italy, seems a likely call-up. Ghana too, will be missing some key players, Asamoah Gyan and Sully Muntari, each of whom have scored goals. Still, Ghana features not only Essien, but in Stephen Appiah and Sammy Kuffour, players with tons of top-class European experience...