Ghana face Egypt in their World Cup play-off in Cairo on Tuesday, with FIFA insisting the game must be played in the capital.

Chelsea midfielder Essien and his team-mates are 6-1 up from the first leg last month – but it is not events on the pitch that Ghana are worried about.

The Egyptian government said this week it would be lifting the country’s three-month-long state of emergency and night-time curfew, imposed after widespread demonstrations and shootings in Cairo over the summer. Essien said: “I am not afraid or scared of the Egypt team. But I am frightened of playing in Egypt because of the on-going fighting over there.”