Soccer News of Thursday, 2 February 2006

Source: --

Kingston to miss world cup

GFA failed to lodged appeal on time
Laryea "Chechen Warrior" Kingston will almost certainly miss the World Cup finals after his appeal against a four-game ban was turned down on Thursday.

The midfilder was sent off in his country's 1-0 victory over Senegal in the African Nations Cup last week after a punch-up with Senegal's Habib Beye.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) said in Cairo that the appeals by both Kingston and Beye against the bans had been disqualified because they had not been lodged in time.

Beye was also handed a four-game ban -- a record at the Nations Cup.

Kingston, who has just signed for Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow, sat out Ghana's last group game against Zimbabwe but because the Black Stars lost and did not qualify for the quarter-finals, still has three matches of his ban to serve.

It means he will be unavailable for all three of Ghana's Group E matches in Germany where they are up against Italy, The United States and the Czech Republic.

Beye, whose country did not qualify for the World Cup finals, misses the rest of the Nations Cup and has already returned to his French club Olympique Marseille, Senegalese officials said on Thursday.

Senegal play Nigeria in the quarter-final in Port Said on Saturday. Should they be eliminated, Beye will miss the first two matches of Senegal's qualifiers for the 2008 Nations Cup finals, which start in September.