Ghana snub Kenya

NAIROBI: Ghana have spurned Kenya's proposal to play a friendly match yesterday claiming they were not immediately ready for such-profile game which acts as a final warm-up for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

?We are not prepared because all our players are not here,? said Black Stars official Kwesi Acheampong from the team's training base in Naivasha, 80km (about 55 miles) on Saturday.

?It makes it even worse considering that the Kenyans will have an advantage over us because they will be playing at altitude. We don't want to be beaten especially going into a crucial match against South Africa,? he said.

Four more foreign-based professionals joined the Ghanaian camp on Saturday and Acheampong said they expected the rest to arrive in the country on Monday.

They include the French-based midfielder Michael Essien, who missed the previous two World Cup qualifiers against the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burkina Faso through suspension and injury respectively.

Acheampong said the 22-year-old Essien, who inspired Lyon to win the French championship in March and was named the France footballer of the Year, was already in Ghana.

Fellow midfielder Sulley Ali Muntari of Italian side, Udinese, is also expected to play against South Africa after missing the last home match against Burkina Faso in Kumasi on June 5. ? AFP