Sports Thread #1 For 5/27/10: 2010 FIFA World Cup Thread #1- Essien Out For World Cup, Spells Major Doom For Ghana

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The blow of the tournament, without even a question:

Chelsea and Ghana midfielder Michael Essien has been ruled out of the FIFA World Cup™ due to injury.

The 27-year-old missed a large part of the recently-concluded season due to knee and ankle injuries and has hardly played any competitive football since December.

National coach Milovan Rajevac had hoped the former Lyon man would be passed fit for the showpiece tournament in South Africa this summer, but the Ghana Football Association today announced he was not expected to be back in action until the end of July.

First Michael Ballack and now Michael Essien, both Chelsea midfielders ruled out of this World Cup. And though Germany may somehow coup with the loss of their captain, Ghana's chances of making big progress in the first African World Cup has been severely damaged by the injury of their superstar do it all midfield general.

Either way, both Australian and Serbia, in the tournament's group of death in my mind, are licking their chops at both of their group rivals without their influential Stanford Bridge respective "Michael" forces.