Sulley Muntari is by no means guaranteed a return to the Ghana starting line-up after he was told by Milovan Rajevac, “I will only use you if I need you”.

Muntari was furious after he was left on the bench for the opening day victory over Serbia, and tellingly did not take part in the pre-game warm-up, emerging only as the teams came out of the tunnel with his jersey in hand.

Rajevac claims he did not play in the opening game against Serbia because he wasn’t match-fit, but he also did not provide any guarantees of his future participation.

“Sulley was injured for a while but has recovered well, even though I did not want to risk him,” Rajevac said. “We will use him when we need him.”

After Dede Ayew’s display against the formidable Branislav Ivanovic, it seems that need will only arise if the former Under-20 captain is unavailable.

Injury was no reason why Rajevac opted not to start Stephen Appiah against Serbia, and that is unlikely to change against Australia.

“Appiah has not played very much over the last few years, but his influence in the team is still very important. As a coach the most important thing is that I still have players of that caliber available for when I want to use.”