Michael Essien seems to have been in the footballing consciousness for an eternity. The Ghana legend will, however, only turn 32 later this year. The concluding chapter of his glittering career will seemingly come in Italy, with Essien swapping Chelsea for AC Milan in January.
He made the move to the San Siro ahead of the FIFA World Cup™, with a view to gaining full level of fitness to take into Brazil 2014. It was not to be, though, with Essien playing just 19 minutes as he struggled to recover from injury. The tournament proved a different kind of heartbreak for ‘The Bison’ compared to four years ago, when he missed the entirety of Ghana’s run to the South Africa 2010 quarter-finals. In South America, the Black Stars crashed out after three games, finishing bottom of an admittedly tough Group G.
Since that disappointment, James Kwesi Appiah has left his role as coach after drawing with Uganda and beating Togo in their opening qualifying matches for the CAF Africa Cup of Nations. Essien was not in the squad for that double-header, but has played a part in AC Milan’s positive start to the Italian Serie A season. In an exclusive chat with FIFA.com, the enthusiastic midfielder discusses his international future, his hopes for the coming season and being among familiar faces in Italy.
FIFA.com: I imagine you didn’t play as many minutes as you would have hoped in Brazil. How do you assess Ghana’s performance at the 2014 World Cup?
Michael Essien: You’re right. I hardly played in Brazil, which was disappointing for me personally and as a whole we didn’t do well based on our performances and experience at past World Cups. 2014 didn’t live up to expectations and overall it was a poor campaign.
Ahead of the tournament, you tipped Ghana as potential semi-finalists. Why do you think they did not achieve that goal?
The semi-finals prediction was an ambitious one, but it’s always good to have high ambitions and we certainly set out to do better than 2010. Unfortunately we didn’t get anywhere near that because we didn’t win games. Apart from the Germany game, which we could have even won, the rest of the games were just not sufficient to see us advance from the group stages.
You saw the eventual winners up close when Ghana played Germany in the group phase. Did you think at that time they could go on and win the World Cup?
At the group stages it’s always difficult to tell who the eventual winner will be, so I can’t say I could see them as winners at that point. They are a very good tournament team, so I always knew they would be there or thereabouts. I am not surprised they won it though because they combined experience with youth very well, and any team that can do that always has a chance.
What does the future hold for your own international career?
At the moment, I haven’t decided what I want to do next in regards to my international career.
What are your hopes for the new Serie A campaign with AC Milan?
I am hoping to contribute to Milan’s success in any way I can and hoping we can finish in the top two or three. We have high hopes of doing well and my job like any other Milan player is to fight for the club when called upon so we can succeed as a group.
Do you think Milan could benefit from not playing in European competition this season, as Liverpool did last season in the English Premier League?
Yes, I’m sure it will help us although we still would liked to have been in Europe. We have to look ahead but we mustn’t forget we need to work hard to be able to do well in Serie A. Not being in Europe doesn’t automatically mean you’ll do well. It means fewer games and good recovery times compared to those in Europe but we still have to work hard and take our opportunities as they come throughout the season.
.Culled from FIFA.com