“We have been shocking the world in the last two years,” Milovan Rajevac said as he gave a response to a question about the suspension of two key members and injuries to a couple for the game against Uruguay. Midfielder Andre Ayew and defender Jonathan Mensah are both suspended for Friday’s quarter-final game in Johannesburg as Ghana aim for a historic semi-final place. “They [Dede and Jonathan] are definitely out and this is a fact. It’s through suspensions and these things happen in tournaments. But we’ll try our best on the injured players and make sure they are ready for the next match,” Rajevac said on Monday at Ghana’s team hotel in Rustenburg. Rajevac who assembled the youngest team at the World Cup finals in South Africa says his Black Stars squad which includes some members of the winning FIFA Under-20 World Cup team is happy with the team’s progress. “Yesterday [Referring to win over the United States] was a great day for Ghanaian and African football. It was the first time in the history of Ghana to reach the quarter finals,” he said. “Ghanaian football has done well in the past two years reaching the CHAN finals [Nations Cup for only local league players], reaching the Nations Cup finals and winning the Under 20 World Cup. “The coach of the Under 20 team Sellas Tetteh did a great job assembling the youngsters. Some of them are here doing a good job and I’m happy they are learning so fast.” Rajevac would have expected to have his full squad available for the game at the Soccer City Stadium against Uruguay but some would be absent. He has been in this situation before, playing without key players with the experience of leading the Black Stars without six first team regulars to the Nations Cup and finishing as runners-up still fresh on his mind. But how many times do Ghana produce their full line up at just the right time, Rajevac is happy with the fact that his squad knows how to compete. "Ghana is now among the eight best teams in the world. This is fantastic. When we reached the final of the African Nations Cup the boys learned how to compete. That is the most important thing and I now hope Ghana will go further." Source: Ghanafa.org