My respect for Milovan Rajevac has increased two notches after his announcement of Ghana's squad last night.

That he had the courage to break through the interference in the Black Stars and still call such a logical team is very brave. And it's a trait that has been rare from our side of things for a long time.

It appears that for Milo, Ghana is just one step towards a legendary status in coaching. Wherever he has been, he has left a mark, be it as a player or as a coach.

Former Hearts of Oak coach Kosta Papic said of the coach: "As a player he was a legend in Serbia, even a god. Everywhere he has coached he has left a legacy. Just check the records."

I did. And it speaks for itself.

It's not often you see news about the Black Stars make headline news on the front page of ESPN Soccernet. But here we are this day with the news that Michael Essien is out of the World Cup.

Essien has started only 23 Premier League games for Chelsea in the past two seasons as he has been dogged by injury. But that's not the headache. Thing is, who replaces the Bison?

More after the jump, but first, here's a poll to assess how you feel about Ghana's loss.

This is my review of the book written by Sellas Tetteh, the coach who won the Under 20 FIFA World Cup last year for Ghana.

Book type: Autobiography/Memoir
Authors: Sellas Tetteh & Aristo Dotse
Readership: General/Sport
Content: 95 pages, 16 chapters
Price: GH¢10 (US$7)
Publisher: Soccernet Publications

“I was a nice, beautiful midfielder.”

While speeding through the text of Sellas Tetteh’s novelty, this quote at the beginning of memoir kept coming back to me. By the time I was done reading, I was convinced that this self-held opinion of himself sums Sellas Tetteh up more succinctly like no one other in the book.

It is common knowledge that all fathers like to tell their wards about how brilliant students they were in their day. But in Sellas Tetteh’s case, you get the feeling that he wants you to accept what he was in his day, and what he is now.

This is why I’d like to warn you in advance that if you do not like Sellas Tetteh, do yourself a favour and do not read his autobiography.

A week ago, Milovan Rajevac named the 30 men he would take to South Africa. Later, we asked of your impressions of his choices in a poll.

Now the poll is closed and...it's interesting.

You've spoken.

How are you waiting for the World Cup?

With just a few weeks to the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, excitement is really reaching dizzying heights.

But why is it special for people here?

"Because it's in Africa and again [it's] the biggest football competiton. Once in a lifetime," says Ekow Arthur, a broadcaster at NET 2 Television in Ghana's capital.

Yes, it is the biggest. Yes, it's in Africa. Our turf, our game. But for many millions around the country and the world, it is simply...magical. And Ekow, with all the others, have every right to be antsy in anticipation.

Before the start of every World Cup or major tournaments, it is customary for Ghanaians to go a bit jiggy. There are so many different World Cup songs in town in the build up to the tournament. You can get in English, pidgin or in any of the country's 50 ethnic languages you can think of.

But, surely, the most popular of them all is by K'naan, called Wavin' Flag (The Celebration Mix). There are several versions but this is the one that has been chosen as Coca-Cola's promotional anthem for the mundial. (Videos and commentary after the jump!)

This past Sunday was Mothers' Day. I attended a buffet celebrating our mums and it was a touching affair. Somewhere along the line, the emcee asked himself why we menfolk are not held in high esteem as the mommies.

He answered himself by saying: "Many fathers are frankly useless"

There were varied degrees of responses to this, but many of us agreed. Michael Essien, I am sure, is in that category. The Chelsea man's father has made it a habit of degrading the very hard-won reputation of his son.

And the Black Stars midfielder is now angry. Very angry.

May 9, 2001.

For the international audience it may be just another date. In Ghana, that date brings black memories for genuine football fans and Ghanaians in general. Nine years ago on that day, 127 lovers of football died.

The 127 people who died at the national stadium, then known as the Accra Sports Stadium were mostly men. Some, with kids. Others, breadwinners. Others, single and rasta.

They had gone to see the crunch game between Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko and the chaos occurred when fans stampeded after police fired teargas into a stand in that league match.

That's Herbert Mensah, former Chief Executive Officer of Kotoko telling his bit at a memorial service a couple of years ago in Accra.

Ghana's squad was released Friday and the mother site broke the news.

The talk has really begun now. Especially about how not-so-different Milovan Rajevac's team is from the one we leaked a week ago. Now, let's know what you think by voting.

Anyway, so the squad (details after the jump) will leave for a training camp in France from May 24 to 29, as part of preparations for the first ever African-staged World Cup to be staged on African soil.

Last Friday, we asked you to put together your fantasy World Cup team for the Black Stars and promised to put the collated list together. The responses have come, not thick and fast I admit, but they've come all the same and the results have been published.

I was a bit surprised that Inkoom beat Paintsil to the right-back slot but, well, that is why we call it a fantasy side.

Essien is certainly a fans' favourite despite the gloomy picture being painted about his slim chances of being fit. So is John Mensah.

BoomBoom1 disagreed with the story we did on Milo's interview with kicker magazine. No problems there mate. Democracy and all that. Your full list after the jump...

Ghana's group opponents, Australia, have dropped one place on the April release of the FIFA world rankings.

The Socceroos had been in 19th position, but they now share 20th place with Nigeria.