The Ghana midfielder Michael Essien has been ruled out of the World Cup finals after failing to recover from a knee injury.
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.
Ghana open their World Cup campaign against Serbia on June 13th and also play Germany and Australia in Group D.
He has scored seven times in 50 appearances for his country and played at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
