Essien And Kingson Out Of CAN 2012 Squad

The Black Stars final squad to travel to Gabon and Equatorial Guinea will be made public on December 15, according to the Ghana FA.

But a list sighted by the captivating Ghana Sports paper reveals the following 23 players as those penciled down by Stars head coach Goran Stevanovic for Gabon-Equatorial Guinea 2012.

They include: Goal Keepers: Adam Larsen Kwarasey (Stromgodest), Ernest Sowah (Berekum Chelsea) Daniel Agyei (Liberty Professionals)

Defenders: Massawudu Alhassan (FC Genoa) John Paintsil (Leicester City), Isaac Vorsash (TSG Hoffenheim), Lee Addy (Red Star Belgrade), Daniel Opare (Standard Liege), John Mensah, Jonathan Mensah, Samuel Inkoom (FC Dnipro).

Midfielders: Kwadwo Asamoah, Emmanuel Agyeman-Badu (Udinese), Sulley Muntari (Inter Milan) Anthony Annan, Abu Mohammed (Stromgodest), Derek Boateng (FC Dnipro) Quincy Abayie (Panathinaikos FC) Andre Ayew (Olympique Marseille).

Strikers: Asamoah Gyan (Al Ain), Prince Tagoe (Bursaspor) Derek Asamoah (Pohang Steelers) Dominic Adiyiah.

Contrarily to public view that Goran Stevanovic might consider including Michael Essien in his final list, 'Ghana Sports' can confirm that Essien has not been part of the Serbian’s plans - taking into account the time frame between the expected recovery period for Essien and the due date for the submission of the final list to CAF.

Article 70 of CAF’s regulations governing CAN 2012 says “Ten days before the first match of the final tournament, a list of a maximum of 23 players must be submitted to CAF secretariat and the teams concerned,” Failure to do so attracts $10,000 fine.

This means all participating countries have 48 days from today to submit their final 23.

Richard Kingston: out of the final list Besides former Ghana number one goalie Richard Kingston (Olele) will not be part of Goran’s squad not only because he is ‘clubless’ but also due to the fact that Olele reportedly grew very furious and confronted Goran over his decision to make Kwarasey his number one during the Ghana-Brazil friendly in London.

Impeccable GFA sources say it took a lot of talks for Olele to agree to be a sub for Kwarasey in the Ghana-Brazil game.

Meanwhile the following players remain the possible substitutes on the list sighted by 'Ghana Sports' which the coach is closely keeping to his chest. They are: Harrison Afful, Albert Adoma, Jordan Ayew, Afriye Acquah and Boakye Yiadom.

Goran has reportedly insisted that until he personally watches Harrison Afful in Egypt he remains unconvinced that the player could be part of his team.