Ghana midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng was excluded from the Schalke squad that beat Eintracht Braunschweig on Saturday, ending suspicion that he faked injury to avoid this week's crucial World Cup playoff against Egypt in Kumasi.
The 26-year-old was not even part of the travelling party to the Eintracht-Stadion for the 3-2 victory in Saturday's German Bundesliga match.
This shows that he has not recovered from the knee injury that kept him out of the Black Stars' 6-1 win over Egypt on Tuesday.
The midfielder sustained the injury just two days before he was supposed to have joined the Black Stars to prepare for the Egypt match.
The timing of the injury prompted fears that he had faked the setback to avoid the tough match while preserving his hopes of playing at the 2014 World Cup which guarantees huge publicity.
This revelation puts an end to the suspicion that he is fooling Ghanaians to enable him play at the World Cup which has got a higher profile.
Boateng has been accused of picking and choosing which matches he wants to play for Ghana and avoids tough qualifying matches in Africa.
But the midfielder has genuine knee problems which have seen him undergo surgeries for about SIX TIMES on the troublesome left knee.
The Schalke midfielder suffered a knee injury while playing for the German club during a league match two weeks ago.
Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah was hoping further tests on the left knee problem could clear Boateng to play for Ghana in the match.
But the tests in Germany revealed that Boateng must undergo treatment for the injury which meant he will not be available for the match against Egypt.