Gunner Frimpong latest to be hit by Ghana curse

Ghana. Sheez. How unlucky can you get? Reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup without crocked Chelsea star Michael Essien and with Sulley Muntari causing havoc in the camp – and then some irksome Uruguayan uses a hand to prevent the Black Stars from claiming their rightful place as Africa’s first global semi-finalists.

Ah, how Africa wept that fateful night at Soccer City on July 2 when Luis Suarez produced football’s second Hand of God, enabling his side to progress on penalties. What might have been eh? But that’s history now. An 18-year-old called Emmanuel Yaw Frimpong represents the future – but he too has been hit by the curse of the Black Stars.

With a name which sounds curiously like a video game for x-box addicts if you say it quickly, Frimpong is the new Ghanaian on the block. On Arsenal’s north London block that is.

Arsene Wenger swooped for the lad from Accra when he was just 11. Just as he did with Cesc Fabregas, Mathieu Flamini and Nicolas Anelka, the shrewd Frenchman was in and talking to the parents before the locals realised what they had in their hands. He signed at the turn of the millennium and has rarely looked back.

Frimpong has been talked about for some time by Arsenal aficionados... but few outside the Gooner blogs have heard of the midfielder who started all three of Arsenal’s pre-season friendlies next to the young English phenomenon Jack Wilshere, also 18. The official Arsenal website suggests the lad is “built like a welterweight boxer” and his prowess in the tackle makes him one of those “Makelele” midfielders who can win the ball as well as working magic in possession.

Frimpong might have been promoted even more quickly but for a hamstring injury which disrupted his progress last season. He laments: "Last season was difficult, it was the hamstring injury that just wouldn’t go away. It was quite frustrating, especially as I went into this season hoping to make progress in the reserves and beyond."

But for a torn cruciate suffered up training with the reserves in Dublin this month, he’s be the one wearing the No41 shirt this season. As Wenger said before injury struck: "It’s great to have two young players from our youth system playing so well in pre-season. We are all happy. Frimpong is a bit less of a dribbler than Wilshere, but he's a fighter and a winner."

While Mario Balotelli, Inter Milan’s young Ghanaian who has just moved to Manchester City, shrugs off his heritage to play for Italy and Jerome Boateng chose to play for Germany, Frimpong has resisted the lure of England. And he did if before the Three Lions’ appalling World Cup performance cast a pall over the game in the land where football was invented.

Frimpong played for England’s Under 16 and Under 18s, but insisted in February: "I have always said that, no matter what, I will always play for Ghana because at the end of the day, from what I believe, I am a Ghanaian.

"England has done a lot for me and my family but at the end of the day I can't see myself playing for England because I am not English - I am from Ghana."

Wenger is mystified by Fabio Capello’s failure to test Frimpong’s unexpected pledge of allegiance. Never one to worry about nationality, Wenger growls: "Here you have a boy who can choose between England and Ghana. So if I was in your place, I would have no hesitation and invite him to play very quickly for England."

But Capello’s silence is deafening. Now something of a lame duck England coach after their World Cup farce, the Italian has missed the boat once more. Next time Ghana appear on the international stage, expect a rehabilitated Frimpong to feature in the Essien role. Prominently.

The nation awaits news from the battle of Rooney's knee... or is it just a tummy bug?

GARY NEVILLE spoke for the whole nation this morning. And that alone is seriously worrying when you think about it. Still, these are desperate times. England as a footballing nation is now on red alert, defcon 1, teetering on the edge of panic.

Wayne Rooney has a knee injury. He may miss England's friendly against Egypt at Wembley on Wednesday. Uh-oh.

These are veteran Manchester United full-back Neville's momentous words this morning: "England cannot afford to lose him."

He's right. Of course he's right. The end of the World Cup is nigh. Doom, doom and thrice doom. We can do without Wayne Bridge or John Terry. But imagine going to South Africa in June with Peter Crouch and Emile Heskey up front. Or Jermain Defoe and Bobby Zamora. Unthinkable.

Even before the two goals at Milan in the Champions League and the winner against Aston Villa in the Carling Cup final at Wembley yesterday, I was saying this to anyone who would listen on Sky News, talkSPORT, BBC Radio5, on South Africa's 702... and here it is again on my birthday blog.

If Rooney misses the World Cup, all hope is gone. Neville, a veteran of "We-can end 44 years of hurt" syndrome, saw his team-mate produce another nifty header yesterday.

The stats on Rooney's rather large forehead are bizarre. Four headers in his first 345 games. Then, in his last nine, eight headed goals. All of them vital, clinical. And 28 in all this season for a man in the form of his life (we'll go into the debate about how Antonio Valencia provides more dangerous crosses than Cristiano Ronaldo ever did at a later date).

Then Sir Alex Ferguson dropped the bombshell after his umpteenth trophy success yesterday: "Wayne got a whack. He has been complaining about that knee for a few weeks and I thought we might have to take him off.

"The doctors are assessing it. I don't know what England are going to do."

Well if he doesn't know, how does Fabio Capello get to grips with a side without their talismanic striker?

Neville, who played for so long behind a certain David Beckham on the right, added: "Wayne is a great player to play with. He has been brilliant for England too. The only thing he has to do for England now is go and win something. That is what England players have been striving to do for the past 40 years. That would really crown it off for him."

The nation trembles, though Rooney himself said from the England training base at The Grove this morning: "Yes it's okay, I went for a scan today and it's just a bit of bruising. So I'm having a bit of a rest day today, I should train tomorrow and should play on Wednesday."

Neville, perhaps more concerned about United's immediate fortunes, added. "We have two months of important matches now and we need him fit for them. It is there for everyone to see. He is going through a peak moment in his career. He is maturing now."

Still, perhaps we are worrying too much. Before yesterday's final Rooney - who came on for Michael Owen, scorer of United's opener in a 2-1 win - said he was starting on the bench because "I had a little bit of a stomach bug and the manager was looking for an excuse to leave me out".

Surely the same thing wouldn't happen before an England game, a vital friendly against the three-time African champions in the build-up to the World Cup?

Who would suggest such a thing of Sir Alex? Not I. That's for sure.

South Africa face public rift as Anderson struggles

SOUTH AFRICA are facing a major internal fall-out before the first Test against England at Centurion next week.

Yesterday the nation’s top-selling newspaper, the Johannesburg Sunday Times, claimed a “chasm” has opened up between controversial coach Mickey Arthur and head of selectors Mike Procter.

South Africa named an expanded squad of 15 for Centurion yesterday as they struggle to cope with all-rounder Jacques Kallis’s rib injury and paceman Dale Steyn’s hamstring problem.

The conflict between Arthur and Procter, who made his name as a paceman with Gloucestershire in the 70s, centres on the roles of seamers Wayne Parnell and Friedel de Wet.

Procter watched De Wet in action with England reject Monty Panesar for the Johannesburg Lions against Durban’s Dolphins at The Wanderers for three days last week and said:. "De Wet was running in with a big heart. In Test cricket you need pace and he's a genuine fast bowler. Guys can rise to the occasion and guys can fall by the wayside. I think he'll respond well if given the chance."

But Arthur is known to prefer Parnell, who played in the one-day series. When Procter, at Sun City for the golf classic on Sunday, was asked how deep the chasm has become, he said: "What happens is that you get differences of opinion. Mickey doesn't agree with everything I say and I don't agree with everything he says. I think that's pretty healthy."

A public rift at the highest level is unlikely to help South Africa’s confidence, which has already taken a battering before the first Test on 16 December. Rain in Durban on Friday handed Andrew Strauss’s men an unlikely 2-1 win over the hosts in the four-match one-day showdown – the hosts first home series defeat since 2002 - and India’s win over Sri Lanka yesterday pushed South Africa down to No2 in the world Test rankings.

The Proteas need a 2-0 or 3-1 win over England, fifth in the rankings, to snatch back top spot. England have problems of their own with the news that Jimmy Anderson, who took a best-ever 5-23 in the ODI win at Port Elizabeth eight days ago (pictured), has stayed in Durban for treatment on his injured knee.

While the rest of the squad flew to East London for their warm-up games against a South African invitation side this week, Anderson’s knee has got the England physios scratching their heads.

He needed a cortisone injection before his heroics last week and uncapped Durham seamer Mark Davies has been called up from the Performance Squad as cover for Anderson with Ryan Sidebottom also struggling.

Davies only played nine championship matches for Durham last year, taking 19 wickets at 29.6, but grabbed 6-76 for the Performance Squad against Gauteng in Pretoria last week.

Anderson was set to fly home for treatment before his remarkable recovery in Port Elizabeth, where he also revealed he injured a toe while kicking a locker in the defeat at Newlands in Cape Town 11 days ago.

Anderson’s former Lancashire and England captain Michael Vaughan, forced into retirement by his own knee problems, said: “I know as much as anybody about knees and I hate this talk of Jimmy's problem. There must be something wrong for them to have talked about him coming home.

"It's so important he stays fit because he's got the ability to make a difference with the ball that no other England player has at the minute."