Ghana bowed out of the World Cup gracefully after falling to the mighty Brazil in Dortmund but the Black Stars are looking at the positives from their 3-0 loss on Tuesday.

Ghana, who were the only African representation in the round of 16 outplayed the defending world champions but the star-studded, the Seleção.

The Black Stars returned to their Wurzburg camp base this afternoon as they prepare to leave Germany on Friday.

With Ghanaians planning a big welcome party for the gallant Ghana team in Accra on Friday, the key actors - the players are bracing up for the challenges ahead.

Poor finishing prevented the impressive Ghana team, who were making their World Cup debut to cause the biggest upset in world football by beating Brazil.

Though the Black Stars would not be engaged in the qualifiers for the 2008 African Cup of Nations, since Ghana is the host nation, players of the team are bent on staging a claim for Ghana football.

The players have been reflecting on the loss to Brazil and the major challenges in the coming years.

Stephan APPIAH

"We need to focus on the next African Cup of Nations and hopefully in the next World Cup in South Africa four years from now, we will be ready to go."

John PAINTSIL

"Brazil were very good. But we were good as well. The early goals were the critical factor in the game.

"The more we went forward the more we were left open at the back."

Eric ADDO

"Brazil were a little bit better and they played very well. They waited for us to come and hit us on the break very well.

"It was unfortunate that the second goal was given as I thought it was offside."

Matthew AMOAH

I am very happy to have represented Africa and proved that we can play football as well as anyone in Africa.

"To play well is not the most important thing, you have to score and win as well."

John MENSAH

"It was a very good game for us today. We played well, but we were unable to score. And in football you are not forgiven for failing to score.

"You can't play well, not score and expect to win games. If we had made it 1-1 it would have been a different story, but we didn’t."

Derek BOATENG

"We need to score more goals. In the end, if you don’t score you will be scored against and you can’t win this way."

Sulley MUNTARI

"Maybe the referee was a little too quick to bring his cards out today.

"This was a problem for us because when we tried to impose ourselves in midfield, we couldn’t tackle without worrying about getting a yellow or a red card."

Michael ESSIEN

"In the future we need to prove that we can not only play football well, but we can also play with smart tactics.

"And if we have three chances on goal we have to score at least one.

This is the future for Ghana and we have to achieve this goal."