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.
