Leadership (Abuja)
9 May 2008
Chelsea midfielder, Michael Essien has been excluded by the Ghanaian Football Association (GFA), from the Black Stars squad that will confront Socceroos of Australia in an international friendly this month. Both Ghana and Australia had agreed to use their full strength squads in this game, but with Chelsea still involved in Europe, Essien has been withdrawn from the squad.
The game against Australia comes only two days after the Champions League final in Moscow between Manchester United and Chelsea, which Essien will most likely be a part of. And if Chelsea does win the Champions League, Essien would have to participate in the club's post match procession in London: with this in mind, a full day's flying to Australia would be too much to ask.
Essien is also in Ghana's plans as they prepare to face Libya in their crucial opening 2010 World Cup/Nations Cup qualifiers, which comes up only one week after the game at Sydney. As such, the FA have decided that playing in the Champions' League final and the Australian friendly game might affect the midfielder's fitness for what will be a crucial game.
"We have long anticipated this issue, so we made contingency plans to give Essien the opportunity to fully concentrate on the Champions League final," GFA vice president, Fred Pappoe said.
"It would be unreasonable for us to expect him to play in Moscow and travel on a very long journey to Sydney. We want Essien to be fully fit when the World Cup qualifiers start so we have left him out and this can also offer the opportunity to another player to show the coach what he can do."
The Black Stars of Ghana are ranked 15th in the global rankings, eight places above their AFC counterparts. The sides last met in an international friendly in London November 2006, with the game ending in a 1-1 draw.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
