Ghana have been the best African team in the last two editions of the FIFA World Cup and they are once again expected to do well after the failure to win the recent African cup of nations.
Former captain Stephen Appiah has said that he is confident that the team can progress to the semifinals stage of the competition. No African team has reached the World Cup semifinals in recent times.
The best result they have achieved has been reaching the quarter-final stage, but quality has increased substantially within the African teams over the last decade.
It will be only a matter of time before Africa has its first World Cup winner. Appiah says that he hopes that Ghana take the first steps towards doing that by reaching the semifinals. The likes of Ivory Coast and Cameron will also be at the World Cup, while current African cup of Nations holders Nigeria will be one of the favourites to get past the quarter-finals. Nigeria look extremely strong at the moment due to the mixture of young and experienced players.
"There is something special about the Black Stars. The 2006 World Cup was our first time experience of playing in the World Cup. But we managed to reach the knock out phase after losing to Brazil. There was a progress in the 2010 World Cup after reaching the quarter finals. I can assure that the Black Stars will put up a wonderful display with their World Cup experience, and reach the semi finals in Brazil," said Appiah.
Appiah was captain of the Ghana team that made it into the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals. The recent 7-3 win over Egypt on aggregate confirmed Ghana's presence in the third consecutive World Cup.
Ghana's next match will be a friendly against Congo in January.