14 Days to the big kick-off
Knee injury rules Ghana's Essien out of World Cup
GHANA midfielder Michael Essien has been ruled out of the World Cup finals after failing to recover from a knee injury, the country’s FA confirmed yesterday.
“An evaluation by a combined team of medical experts from the Ghana Football Association and Chelsea Football Club revealed that Essien will not make (a) full recovery until the end of July,” Ghana’s FA said on their website (www.ghanafa.org).
The Chelsea midfielder has been recovering from a knee injury picked up at the African Nations Cup in January. He played just 45 minutes at the tournament in Angola after suffering a hamstring injury in the Champions League in November.
His loss is a blow to Ghana whose coach Milovan Rajevac last week described Essien as the leader and engine room of his team. Rajevac is due to decide on his final 23-man squad on Tuesday. Ghana open their World Cup campaign against Serbia on June 13th.
Mandela's opening ceremony singer dies of meningitis
A SOUTH AFRICAN opera singer personally chosen by Nelson Mandela to sing at the World Cup’s opening ceremony has died two weeks before he was due to perform.
Siphiwo Ntshebe (34) an up-and-coming tenor known to local fans as the “new Pavarotti” after the late Italian star Luciano, contracted bacterial meningitis while rehearsing for the June 11th concert. He died yesterday.
The singer was to perform his signature song, Hope, during the ceremony, ahead of the opening match between South Africa and Mexico.
Van Marwijk names 23 for finals
NETHERLANDS coach Bert van Marwijk named his final 23-man squad yesterday for the World Cup finals in South Africa.
Van Marwijk dropped four players after his side beat World Cup bound Mexico 2-1 in their first warm-up match on Wednesday.
Defenders Ron Vlaar and Vurnon Anita, midfielder Orlando Engelaar and winger Jeremain Lens were sent home.
Goalkeepers: M Stekelenburg (Ajax), S Boschker (Twente Enschede), M Vorm (Utrecht) Defenders: K Boulahrouz (VFB Stuttgart), E Braafheid (Celtic), G van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), J Heitinga (Everton), J Mathijsen (SV Hamburg), A Ooijer (PSV), G van der Wiel (Ajax) Midfielders: I Afellay (PSV), M van Bommel (Bayern Munich), N de Jong (Manchester City), S Schaars (AZ Alkmaar), W Sneijder (Internazionale), R van der Vaart (Real Madrid), D de Zeeuw (Ajax) Forwards: R Babel (Liverpool), E Elia (SV Hamburg), K Jan Huntelaar (AC Milan), D Kuyt (Liverpool), R van Persie (Arsenal), A Robben (Bayern Munich)
Brazil to play Zimbabwe in warm-up
BRAZIL, one of the favourites to win the World Cup, will play a warm-up match against Zimbabwe on June 2nd in Harare.
Brazilian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Raul de Taunay told reporters the country’s proximity to World Cup hosts South Africa was the major factor in the decision.
Zimbabwe, battered for a decade by a political and economic crisis, had hoped for a major boost in tourism revenue because of the World Cup but Brazil are the only team to announce a game there.
At nearly 1,500 metres above sea level, Harare is at a similar altitude to South Africa’s Highveld region which will host a number of World Cup games, including the final in Johannesburg.
Zimbabwe, ranked 110th in the world, were initially meant to play North Korea in a pre-World Cup friendly but the game was scrapped last month.
Capello expects Barry to make it
ENGLAND manager Fabio Capello is “very confident” Gareth Barry will be fit for the World Cup. T
he Manchester City midfielder was expected to be out for four weeks after suffering ankle ligament damage against Tottenham on May 5th.
“His recovery time is shorter than we thought,” said Capello. We are going to decide next week. We are very confident.”
