Black Stars assistant coach Kwesi Appiah sees the fifteen other participants at the African Nations Cup as Ghana's biggest rivals for the title as Gabon and Equatorial Guinea co-host next year’s tournament.

Appiah said he is looking for Ghana to win its first title since 1982.

“Every African Nations Cup is very difficult,” Appiah said in an interview with www.ghanafa.org.

"All the qualified nations are among the favourites. But in every tournament, the unknown can happen. Our dream is to lift the trophy. We can't just go in there thinking that we are the top team, we have to treat every team with respect and work for it."

Ghana went unbeaten in the qualifying matches for the tournament, a record Appiah hopes the Black Stars can sustain in Group D where they are pitted against Botswana, Guinea and Mali.

"They are all in the competition on merit. In every tournament, you would have to play the best and winning against them demands greater concentration," the Black Stars assistant coach added.

The tournament would be missing some established nations as teams like Cameroon and Nigeria failed to qualify. Though Appiah would have relished such meetings, he hopes the Black Stars approach all games with a great mentality.

"Our approach against every team would have to be the same throughout," he said.

“The competition would be missing some established nations like Cameroon and Nigeria but there are few differences in the strength of the other teams making the finals.

"We have to concentrate fully on the tournament. No match would come easy. The players would have to approach every game just like they do when playing against teams like Cameroon, Nigeria and Egypt."

Ghana's first 2012 African Nations Cup game will be against newcomers, Botswana, in Franceville Tuesday January 24, three days after the tournament kicks off.

The Black Stars will follow up their opener with fixtures against West African rivals, Mali four days later and Guinea on February 1.