Milo faced with injuries for Nations Cup

Milovan Rajevac, the Serbian coach of the Ghana's national football team, is faced with a serious injury crisis ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) set to kick off in Angola on January 10.

The absence of experienced captain Stephen Appiah of Italian side Bologna, John Mensah of English Premier League side Sunderland, Fulham's John Paintsil and Laryea Kingston of Scotland's Hearts represent a serious blow to the The Black Stars' chances of winning a fifth title.

But Rajevac is optimistic that Ghana can overcome these hurdles over the course of the three-week competition and thereby become the first foreign coach of the west African nation to win the trophy.

"I know that a foreigner is yet to win the competition and I want to become that first coach to deliver the title and it is possible," Rajevac told journalists last week before the team left Accra for Nelspruit, South Africa, to begin their pre-tournament training.

German trainer Otto Pfister came close to winning the trophy with Ghana in 1992 but lost out on penalties to Ivory Coast in Senegal.and under Frenchman Claude LeRoy they finished third when hosting the last tournament in 2008.

Also on the injury list but expected to recover before the start of the tournament is Chelsea?s midfield kingpin Michael Essien, who limped off clutching his hamstring in Chelsea's Champions League game against APOEL Nicosia in early December.

Rajevac has blended his squad with eight members of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup winning team in Egypt last year.

"You can see the coach has brought in talented youngsters who have shown great quality already, so while it?s unfortunate that injuries have come, we have to concentrate on what we have," Eric Addo of Dutch club Roda JC was quoted as saying by the official website of the Ghana Football Association.

The injuries will deny Ghana of some badly needed experience at the tournament but Ghana Football Association vice president Fred Pappoe says there is no point brooding over the losses.

"I am a perennial optimist. I don?t pay attention to the dark side of life," he told a local television station by phone from the team?s camp in South Africa.

"I am not looking at the injured players injured, I am looking at those who are here."

Ghana will also have to do without Inter Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari -- usually a regular in the team -- after Rajevac axed him from the squad for indiscipline.

Back on the streets of Accra, not everyone is sharing in the optimism of the coach and officials despite conceding to the technical capabilities of the coach.

"For me I do not think we can do well in Angola," football fan Johnson Armah told AFP.

"With the absence of these key players, I wonder if the young lads can stand the difficult and rather physical games you usually get at the Africa Cup of Nations. But perhaps luck will be on our side."

The Black Stars have been drawn in Group B of the CAN alongside Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Togo in an all-West African battle.