Essien Misses World Cup… But Offered Backroom Staff Role In South Africa

Shattering piece of information reaching peacefmonline.com say Black Stars and Chelsea midfield dynamo, Michael “Bison” Essien, will be unavailable for Ghana at the World Cup in South Africa 2010, and his name has been dropped from the final 23-man squad to be submitted to the tournament.

Essien will however, be given a backroom staff role at the World Cup despite being rule out due to injury.

Reliable sources told peacefmonline that the decision was arrived at during a crunch meeting comprising the Chelsea Star and his doctors and the medical team of the Black Stars World Cup team at the team’s base in Paris.

It was primarily to decide on when Essien returns to full action, but sadly, the former Olympique Lyonnais star has no chance of playing for Ghana at the World Cup.

Peacefmonline can confirm that the evaluation by a combined team of medical experts from the Ghana Football Association and Chelsea Football Club revealed that Essien will not make full recovery until the end of July. Essien is recuperating from a knee injury, and most football loving fans were hoping he could play a part in Ghana’s warm-up games before the tournament.

The mercurial midfielder has been out since January after he was rushed back into action for the Black Stars in the Nation’s Cup tournament. He was expected to be out for six weeks but the injury was said to have developed some complications culminating in a four month lay off.

It would be recalled that Ghana’s Coach, Milovan Rajevac, in an interview with the media earlier this week, shared how important Essien will be to Ghana’s campaign in South Africa.

“He is one of the best players in the world and the World Cup is an assembly of the best. Ghana wants him there, the organisers want him there and the world wants him there…Argentina is going and people want to see (Lionel) Messi, Portugal is going and people want to see (Cristiano) Ronaldo, Ghana is going and people want to see Essien.”

Coach Rajevac also revealed in that same interview that he has a Plan B just in case the midfielder does not recover to play a part in the tournament.

“I am confident he can make it. But if he doesn’t make it we have to do without him. There are other young and hungry players who will be equally passionate to play.”

Meanwhile, the Stars have two friendly games lined up against Holland in Rotterdam on June 1 and against Latvia in Milton Keynes on June 5 before flying out to South Africa on June 6. “All [players] will get the chance during the warm up games. We would try some things and give opportunities to all…It’s important to try some options and check on the every detail,” Coach Rajevac said.

Peacefmonline.com wishes him full recovery and a quick return to football action.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana

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