The future of Ghana’s national football team is shaping itself differently with Chelsea’s Michael Essien and Inter Milan’s Sulley Muntari appearing more than irregularly for the Black Stars.
In Michael Essien’s case, where it’s been half a year since the ‘bull’ played for his country, injury worries are believed to have been the cause of his national team exclusion. The fragile Chelsea midfielder sustained a knee injury (ironically following a tackle by his Blues teammate Didier Drogba) during Ghana’s 2010 Africa Cup of Nations opener against Cote d’Ivoire earlier in January.
Doctors confirmed that Essien had to miss the remainder of the tournament where the Black Stars still went all the way to the reach the final. Since then, Michael Essien has been left on the sidelines. The player only just returned to action with Chelsea in mid-July and Ghana’s Milovan Rajevac has no intentions of risking him in Wednesday’s friendly match against South Africa.
As for Sulley Muntari, he has once again been excluded from the Black Stars’ roster based on disciplinary issues. It is nothing new to have Muntari’s temperament and behavior coming under criticism by Ghana’s FA.
The UEFA Champions League winner was reported to have left Ghana’s training camp in Europe without permission before the start of the 2010 World Cup. This was the reason to why the manager did not give him a first team role during the competition where his long range opening goal against Uruguay in the quarter-finals wasn’t enough to save Ghana from avoiding bad luck. 
Reports indicated that the player became furious after the Black Stars’ failure to reach the semi-finals. Muntari thus broke disciplinary rules by walking out of the squad’s base for yet another time. Ghana’s next game since their defeat to Uruguay will be against South Africa and Coach Milovan Rajevac has opted to punish Muntari for his faulty action the last time the team played together.
Kwadwo Asamoah, Andre Dede Ayew Pele, and Kevin-Prince Boateng create a strong midfield line with the help of Anthony Annan. It now arguably seems that aces Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari aren’t even needed for the Black Stars of Ghana to put up convincing performances and succeed in games.
Well, Michael Essien and Muntari will both have to watch the South Africa vs Ghana from their TV set while Black Stars supporters may not be worried at all by their absence – especially if the final result is positive – with Kevin-Prince Boateng quickly transforming into a fans’ favorite for his looks and performances.
Follow South Africa vs Ghana live on LiveSoccerTV.com.
