Dede Ayew To Rejoin Black Stars

All things being equal, Black Stars midfielder, Dede Ayew, is expected to join the team when Ghana resumes its 2014 World Cup qualifying series next month. Dede missed the recent African Cup of Nations after Coach Kwasi Appiah said he had failed to meet a reporting deadline as Ghana prepared for the tournament, and his absence seemed too obvious as the team churned out an indifferent outing on their way to another fourth place finish in South Africa. But Coach Appiah said Dede had never been kicked out of the team, and that he remained a part of the squad. �Dede is part of the team. It�s not like he was out; he had an injury,� Coach Appiah said at a news conference in Accra last Friday when the GFA and the technical team addressed matters of Ghana�s Nations Cup campaign. It was the farthest the coach would go in discussing individual players at the press conference in the wake of the controversy that characterised Dede�s exclusion from the final 23-man list for the tournament. The amnesty of some kind could also be extended to Jordan Ayew, who was also controversially dropped on grounds of form in the same week he was adjudged the best player for the month at Olympique Marseille in France. The siblings were key in Ghana�s previous Nations Cup campaign in Angola where the Black Stars again finished fourth, and had featured in the team�s various qualifying matches prior to the South Africa tournament. The subject of their snub by the Black Stars technical team popped up once an uninspiring Stars lost a semi-finals match against Burkina Faso on penalties and then crashed 3-1 at the feet of Mali�s Eagles in the third place play-off. Reports of Michael Essien and Kevin-Prince Boateng expressing interest in rejoining the team had prompted the question at the news conference, but GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi said his outfit was not officially aware of Boateng�s case in particular. AC Milan midfielder, Boateng, called time on his international career a few months after returning from the World Cup with the Black Stars, refusing to rescind his decision even after attempts by officials to lure him back. Chelsea midfielder, Essien, who is on loan at Real Madrid, on the other hand, was excused from international duty as he fought to win the battle with series of injuries.