Not ready for blackstars -Essien

Ghana's midfielder Micheal Essien says he never said he will return to play for

the Blackstars in March contrary to early reports. On the 3rd of september this

year, reports from the SUN newspaper in UK and the local media in Ghana published

that Essien had ruled himself out iof playing for Ghana untill he is back to his

best with Chelsea. It was later reported that the then Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac

revealed Essien personally asked for time off to proove his fitness to Chelsea Coach

Carlo Ancelotti after a long injury lay-off.

After the Stars friendly with Saudi Arabia in Dubai,on November 17 this

year,the spokesperson of the Ghana football association Randy Abbey,told radio Ghana

that the midfield Dynamo will be back against Congo in march. The new twist is that

Micheal Essien in an lnterview with Prince Peace Essuman on Uniiq FM's Drive Sports

show said Hhe never said he will be back in march to play for the Blackstars and

actually does not know when he will be back in the Stars set up."l never said l will

come back in march and will return if lm fully fit and confident to play for Ghana

and l cant give any date on my return. Of course l love my country but l cant

promise any returning day."Essien said.

The question is why is Essien playing strongly for Chelsea and wants to be

fit and confidence before playing for his country and what power at all does he need

for the Ghana matches?

The 27 year-old Chelsea star started his lnternetional career with the

Ghana under 17 team,when he played for the Black Starlets in the 1999 FIFA

U-17 championship in New Zealand and won Bronze medal.Eventhough he was one of the

youngest players in the tournament, Essien took part in the 2001 FIFA World Youth

Championship with the Black Satellites in Argentina. The Satellites lost the finals

to the host nation.He made his competititive senior debut in the 2002 African Cup

of Nations against Morocco on 21 January 2002.