[GHANA] Star midfielder Michael Essien has been ruled out of the World Cup after an evaluation of a team of doctors from the Ghana Football Association and Chelsea, his English club, revealed that he won't be recovered from his knee injury until the end of July.

He's only played one game this year -- the second half of Ghana's Africa Cup of Nations match against Ivory Coast in January.

Two days after the game, Essien, who was coming off a hamstring injury that had sidelined him for six weeks, injured his right knee in practice.

Essien was instrumental in Ghana's Black Stars reaching the second round of the 2006 World Cup.