Unfortunately it has been confirmed. So far I think the biggest player to miss out due injury (with Ballack a close second). Severely downgrades Ghana's chances, but they are still a decent team with a sound side. Still wouldn't bet on them now... but I hope they do great all the same. The slot vacated by Essien will now probably be filled by Kwadwo Asamoah, Stephen Appiah (if deemed fit enough to play) or possibly Bernard Yao Kumordzi. There is alos a possibility that Agyeman Badu and Annan will play with Annan taking over the Essien role. I think this also basically closes the issue of whether or not Kevin Prince Boateng makes the final 23. He will. Official news on the Ghana FA website: http://www.ghanafa.org/blackstars/201005/4740.php --- From unconfirmed camp news: Appiah is in great form apparently and will likely make the squad. Also Derek Boateng is really making a great impression. John Mensah is very brittle and may be dropped as not being fully capable of playing for 90 minutes. Agyeman-Badu has until Sunday to shake off his injury. If not he will be dropped. Owusu Abeyie has not impressed, has a minor injury and will most likely be dropped. If it continues to go like this injuries will decide Ghana's 23, not Rajevac.
We are toast, plain and simple. Remember with Appiah on the pitch we are already a man down.... Every single tournament we have key midfielders missing (always the midfield!). CAN '06 : Essien & Muntari (plus a heavily bandaged Appiah) WC '06 : Laryea CAN '08 : Appiah CAN '10 : Muntari & Kingston (plus an unfit Essien who managed only 45 mins) WC '10 : Essien
This is unconfirmed, but camp rumour is that Appiah is in shockingly good form and noone can believe how well he is doing. What worries me more is that if John Mensah is dropped than the defence is going to look very frail. I hope the coach gambles and goes for this defence: Inkoom - Pantsil - Vorsah - Lee Addy or Hans Sarpei I don't think Eric Addo or Jonathan Mensah are good enough at this level. And there are very few alternatives (a shame they didn't invite Jonathan Quartey or David Addy).
Come on now, you and I both know that no matter how impressive he is in training, once he steps onto the pitch he will suck as he has for the past year. In his last game for Bologna he he struggled, even though he kept things as simple as possible, you could see that the body just wasn't able. He should give up and support the team from the bench. With Appiah too many people are afraid to tell him that his performances recently have simply been whack. Against Zambia he sucked, against Egypt he was terrible, but because he grabbed a goal from a pen and his wayward shot off target led to Prince Tagoe's tap in, people say "A goal and an assist! Great performance" when we who watched the game know that he was awful. What about Benin? Home and away he sucked. In the home game we all saw the difference when Asamoah came on for him. Appiah's time has finished, it's time people just accepted it. Oh how I wish I was wrong, as I'm one of his BIGGEST fans, but the guy just cannot perform at a high level anymore. He should go the World Cup in the "Beckham role".
Well... not that's that. Ghana are no longer favoured to leave the group. But that means the pressure is off. Ghana has enough quality players and is tactically sound to make some impact. I wouldn't be surprised if they progressed. I'm not counting on them anymore, but they are a hard team to break down. Slightly OT: Friendly game between Gyan XI and Appiah XI ended 4:3. John Mensah DID NOT PLAY. Goals by: Gyan, Tagoe (x2), Adiyiah - Amoah, Muntari (x2) Gyan XI Daniel Agyei/Stephen Ahorlu, Samuel Inkoom, Rahim Ayew, Isaac Vorsah, Lee Addy, Bernard Kumordzi/Anthony Annan, Kwadwo Asamoah, Prince Tagoe, Dominic Adiyiah, Asamoah Gyan, Andre Ayew/Kevin-Prince Boateng Appiah XI Richard Kingson/ Stephen Adams, John Paintsil, Hans Adu-Sarpei, Eric Addo, Jonathan Mensah, Derek Boateng, Laryea Kingston, Kevin-Prince Boateng/Sulley Muntari, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Stephen Appiah, Mathew Amoah
Other than the media and fans, when were they anyway? No disrespect to Ghana but we've never lost to them in our 6 matches against them one of which was relatively recent and I personally held no fears going in against them in the first place.
True. And you're right, we did lose a match 1-0 in 1995, so what is the love affair with Ghana? Why will they move on ahead of Australia or Serbia? The fact is they're not that good, and without Essien, they're even worse. I don't mean to be nasty, but you're sprouting how Ghana are gong to tak all before them, when they're not, and never were.
One of my biggest concerns for Ghana is not as much in losing a player as Essien, but rather recovering phsycologically from it. Will Ghana have the same self belief? I doubt it...they are good enough physically to cope without Essien, but not phsycologically. They need to treat the loss as a minor blow, even when it is not, to even have a chance of playing well. I agree that he is so far the biggest loss for a team. Ballack being second. (Germany can cope phsycologically with their big loss)
Not that good, but not that bad either. The amount of hyperbole on these pages (BigSoccer) is astounding. People seem to think that a side has to be either amazing or crap. Ghana is a decent side. Not a world beater, not a minnow. Why can't people get that into their thick skulls?
Ghana is sort of a Denmark or a Sweden. Decent, reliable with some classy players, but not world beaters. With Essien however they do have the strongest midfield in the group (in terms of pace, ball control, possession and destructive input). They may not be flashy, but it is a cool collected team. Cote d'Ivoire has a group of players that is in the same echelon as the world cup favourites, but they aren't consistent and organized.
I disagree. One man doesn't make a midfield, you know? And the kinds of Kroos, Özil, Marin or Schweinsteiger I can't see in the Ghana squad, seriously. To the rest I agree, Ghana is a decent team pulling all on an event like the world cup, so the favorite teams have to give all.
Ghana have players like Kingston, Asamoah, Muntari, Annan, Appiah, KPB, Ayew and so on - when tehese players were at top form in terms of stamina, ball control, pace and destructive input NONE of the German players you mentioned have anything on them. Note I mentioned SPECIFIC traits of the midfield. That's why Ghana normally dominates any midfield they play against, but that doesn't mean they win the games (i.e. Italy or Brasil gave over the midfield to Ghana, but that didn't mean they didn't win deservedly). Right now with the new Rajevac tactics they are a more counter-attacking team, so they don't dominate the midfields as they used to, but honestly if the tactics were different they would have no problems with controlling the midfield. Essien is just the icing on the cake and by far the best midfielder in the group.
In other camp news: Emmanuel Agyeman-Badu is the latest casualty for Ghana. He is the preferred substitute DM in the absence of Essien or Annan (Rajevac plays with 2 DMs). Kumordzi looks set to make the cut...
You would have taken him if he wasn't deemed a trouble maker He was much hyped back in the day, but because of his character he was dropped from the German u21. He was held as more talented than his brother Jerome... who made the German team. Besides I rate him the lowest off all the players I mentioned.
Even if he were no troublemaker he wouldn't be in the team. He just wasn't good enough in the last years. Btw what do Ghanaian fans think of him? Recently he said in a FIFA.com interview that he would have loved to play for Germany and basically that he only plays for Ghana because he wants to play at a world cup. This guy doesn't have a good PR advisor.
Please take Appiah out of that list. His career was over in 2007. He is now -1 player (i.e might aswell play for the opposition). Ayew is a class below the other midfielders including a few you've missed out (I assume you're talking about Dede).
At first (4 years ago when he was linked) I was like "f*** him" because he was only flirting with us to try and get Germany's attention. Now, I'm more like "Well actually he's a lot more German than he is Ghanaian since he was born there and grew up there too, so I can understand Germany being his 1st choice (yes and ok they're a much better team too)". But he does recognise his Ghanaian side though (even has a Ghana tattoo on his arm), he's not like Balotelli. Another part of me also says "We can't afford to be fussy, so let's embrace him". Oh and that completes the swap for Gerald Asamoah.
jusnang: I agree... but on form he was the ball... I'm not saying he is on form (albeit some people in camp are hinting at it, but maybe it's just a PR stunt).
so, you are arguing Appiah is better than the German midfielders because he was good several years ago, although he is terribly out of form now? If that is the case, why don't we just compare him to German players which were good a few years ago, like Sammer or Effenberg You know what? I don't believe you rate him the lowest out of all that midfielders, I am sure you know that he is currently way better than many others you listed. I think you are just a bit ashamed to argue that Ghana has a better midfield than Germany, knowing that Ghana will field a midfielder which was too bad to play for Germany and tehrefore opted for Ghana By the way, I realized you got a bit nervous when it was announced that Essien will miss the WC, I am wondering why? If Ghana has such a depth of highclass midfielders (worldbeaters like Appiah or KPB, as you mentioned) as you explained, the loss of a single player can't be a that big blow for them?! I mean, Ghana is no one man team, rigt?