Appiah will miss CAN 2010 - Milo

There is confusion about Stephen Appiah’s availability for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations after Milovan Rajevac revealed his captain will not make the tournament through injury despite the player’s insistence he will be ready in time for the tournament.

Appiah is out for what club sources say is one month with a calf injury and has declared he is doing everything to return in time for the Nations Cup in Angola.

But Rajevac was emphatic in an interview with Reuters that his captain’s Nations Cup misery will continue.

"We will miss injured captain Stephen Appiah and several other players face a race against time to be fit but we are still hoping to hit top form at the right time," Rajevac said.

If Appiah is crocked from the tournament in Angola it will be another tale in his Nations Cup misfortunes. He was injured for a large part of the 2000 tournament before injury ruled him out of the 2002 edition in Mali.

In 2004, Ghana failed to qualify for the tournament before a side captained by Appiah crushed out of the group stage at the 2006 edition before a career threatening injury ruled him out of the 2008 edition which Ghana hosted.

The Ghana star was only just days away from his first competitive club game in two years before calf injury rocked his Bologna debut. And it is that injury that Rajevac reckons will wreck his Nations Cup hopes too.

Rajevac will still go to the tournament with high ambitions though. The Serbian reckons Ghana has what it takes to win it and is hoping Angola will be a major dress rehearsal for the World Cup itself.

"It will be a blend of youth and experience, comprising players who have been the national team's backbone over the years and those who shone in Ghana's Under-20 World Cup triumph.