Appiah to make Bologna debut today

Ghana midfielder Stephen Appiah is highly fancied to make his official debut for Italian Serie A side Bologna on Sunday.

The Black Stars captain is among the 23 players called for the crucial game against Lazio.

Appiah has not played an official game for the club since joining them on a free transfer late last year.

But after four consecutive defeats, coach Franco Colomba is likely to hand Appiah a role in the game as the enforcer to help change the fortunes of the club.

This has been heightened by the fact that Appiah has been used in a midfield starting role during training throughout this week .

TuttuSport newspaper also reported on Saturday that coach Colomba is thinking about using Appiah for the game.

With five matches remaining in the Italian top flight, Appiah desperately needs some playing time to secure his match fitness for the World Cup in June.

If he gets some playing time, the news will delight coacvh Milovan Rajevac who wants all his key players fit for the tournament in South Africa.

But this is not the first time Appiah has been named in Bologna camping team.

He was named in the club's camping team last month but was not among the first 18.

Here's the full list of squad:

Goalkeepers: Roberto Colombo, Filippo Spitoni and Emiliano Viviano;

Defenders: Alessandro Bassoli Miguel Britos, Salvatore Lanna, Daniele Portanova, Andrea Raggi, Rafael Santos and Cristian Zenoni;

Midfielders: Stephen Appiah, Anthony Busch Federico Casarini, Roberto Guana, Francesco Modesto, Gaby Mudingayi, Massimo Mutarelli and Andrea Pisanu;

Forwards: Adailton, Marco Di Vaio, Henry Gimenez, Davide Succi and Marcelo Zalayeta