Assistant Ghana coach, Kwesi Appiah says the Black Stars would not underestimate the Socceroos in Friday’s international friendly in Sydney.

Ghana, ranked 14th in the FIFA World Ranking, thus 29 places above the Australians, would play their host in a friendly at the Sydney Football Stadium on Friday.

Kwesi Appiah, who would go into his first game with the senior side since his appointment as assistant coach expects a high quality performance from the Socceroos.

"Australia is a big football country; I mean even before the (2006) World Cup, we had a lot of respect for them."

"After we played them in London we knew they are a very good side and most of the players are playing in Europe which gives them a bit of an edge."

"So we're not going to underestimate them and I think it should be a nice game to watch."

Ghana would be without the English premiership duo, Michael Essien, who played for Chelsea in Wednesday night’s Champions League final in Moscow and FA Cup winner, Sulley Muntari for the game.

Despite the absence of the two key players, Sellas Tetteh, a member of the Black Stars coaching staff exclusively for the friendly against Australia insists the squad remains 'very strong'.

"Of course we're thinking of winning," Tetteh said.

"This is our second meeting; the first meeting was in London (in November 2006) where it was a 1-1 draw."

"I believe that match was a very well contested game but I still believe the Australians will be much, much stronger because this time they will be playing at home," he said.

"We know the opposition very well so we're expecting that at least we will give a good account of ourselves."

Both nations would use the game to prepare for crucial World Cup qualifiers next month.

And for Ghana, the game would serve as a build-up to the 2010 World Cup/Nations Cup qualifiers which begins with a home game against Libya scheduled for June 1.

"This game needs to prepare us for next week's game against Libya," Sellas said.

"So this game is highly important for us, for our preparation towards our World Cup qualifiers."