Ghana is becoming accustomed to going into major tournaments without some key players but John Mensah’s injury worry is not wearing Black Stars coach, Milovan Rajevac’s hopes.

The Black Stars coach says he is hopeful of having the Sunderland defender available for the start of the African Nations Cup next month in Angola.

Mensah limped off after 80 minutes whiles playing in Sunderland's 1-1 draw against Everton on Saturday.

The defender is facing a late fitness test to ascertain whether he can be fit for the trip to Blackburn in a domestic action before turning up for Ghana’s pre-tournament preparations beginning Monday.

But Rajevac expects Mensah to recover in time for Ghana’s campaign as he awaits further tests to see how the player progresses in the coming days.

“We spoke to him [Mensah] after the match and he said he felt a little pain. He didn’t want to take any risk. He’s an important player for us and we can only see how things progress.

“We will wait for doctors to examine him first, then we can take a decision [his CAN participation],” the Ghana coach told www.ghanafa.org on Sunday.

As Mensah rallies to get fit, Rajevac says he would take a decision on his captain based on the reports that he receives from the medics.

“We would be ready for that [naming a replacement] but we hope he will be ok. I am confident that he will be fine and play for Ghana.”

Ghana's team will commence preparations for the tournament on December 28 in Nelspruit, in the north-eastern part of South Africa.

The Black Stars have been drawn in Group B of the CAN alongside Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Togo in an all-West African battle.

The tournament begins on 10 January 2010 in Luanda and reaches its climax at the same venue on January 31.