Gyimah has chance to be in Ghana line-up

EDWIN Gyimah has received a late call-up to join up with Ghana's World Cup camp as they grapple with a growing injury list in the build-up to their play-off tie against Egypt.

The spikey-haired SuperSport United hard man has travelled to Kumasi to fill in for French-based central defenders John Boye and Jonathan Mensah (ex-Free State Stars), who are both injured.

Gyimah has a realistic chance, along with three other players from the Premier Soccer League, of being catapulted from the bench to playing in the starting line-up again in Tuesday's first leg in Kumasi.

Mohamed Awal of Maritzburg United and Rashid Sumaila of Mamelodi Sundowns are already in line to replace the first choice pairing of Boye and Mensah.

Awal, Gyimah and Sumaila have only had a handful of outings for the Black Stars but have been regulars in the squad over the last year and could now be throw into the deep end against Egypt.

Awal played in central midfield for Ghana in the third place play-off match at the Nations Cup finals in South Africa in February but is better known as a central defender. Gyimah has also switched between the two positions since joining SuperSport.

Sumaila did not play for Sundowns against Bloemfontein Celtic in the Telkom Knockout last weekend as his coach Pitso Mosimane elected to keep faith with Wayne Arendse, who has been playing well.

There are also concerns that Sumaila's play is a little wild at times and he is a potential liability - as well as being an obvious talent with particularly powerful physical attributes.

The three Ghanaian defenders are joined in their squad by goalkeeper Fatau Dauda, who recently signed for Orlando Pirates but has not played an official game for his new club.

He was, however, first choice for Ghana against Zambia in their last World cup qualifier last month.