It is an established fact Ghana is a highly religious country that believes in prayers for divine intervention in times of need. A couple of years back when the Volta lake at Akosombo was drying at an alarming rate threatening the major source of electric power to the nation, a national week or so of prayer did the trick and the rains fell in abundance to save the situation.

The last general election in Ghana was heralded by a national consensus for prayers for peaceful polls and even the few infidels around would agree that the prayers of Ghanaians were answered. Three months to the elections, football crazy Ghanaians suffered a jolt when the livewire of the national football team Black Stars, Michael Essien was hurt in a World Cup/Africa Cup qualifying match against Libya in Tripoli last September.

The strong tackling midfielder played for only 20 minutes. The Black Stars lost the match 1-0 and the medical people determined that Essien would be out of action for at least five months, which is January 2009 to be precise. There were prayers all over the place and former President John Kufuor even took time off an official trip to Britain to visit Essien at home.

The good news is that the prayers of Ghanaians have been answered and Essien is back in action with his darling club Chelsea where he has started to score important goals. In the European Champions League, he got a vital equalizer against A.C. Milan that set Chelsea on the path of advancing into the last eight. Within the same week, Essien hit the headlines when he got the lone goal winner in a crucial premier league encounter against Manchester City that has catapulted Chelsea to the second spot in the table with superior goal tally over Liverpool.

Reports so far indicate that Essien has shown amazing recovery from his long stay off and he is as robust as ever. The prayer of Ghanaians is that he would have the courage to approach the impending assignments of the Black Stars with the same vigour he is displaying with Chelsea. Ghanaians would want Essien to quickly forget that he suffered his injury in a Black Stars jersey and help mobilize the team to conquer Benin in the forthcoming World Cup qualifying series at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi on March 29.

I am very much aware that football is a team sport and no one can be said to be indispensable but the truth of the matter is that some players are irreplaceable and Michael Essien is one – both to Chelsea and the Black Stars.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.