Playing at the World Cup, the biggest stage of international football has now become a standard for the Black Stars after a debut success at the last World Cup in Germany.

However, the nation is not content after a first-time appearance in 2006 as they set their sights on a second successive World Cup appearance.

And with the standard set, fans are expecting Ghana to kick off their qualifying campaign for a place at the next World Cup today with a win over Libya in their Group 5 match at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi as the qualifiers for the 2010 African Nations Cup and World Cup begins.

Scores of admirers in Kumasi swamped the team’s training sessions during the week, a sign which, coach Sellas Tetteh - put in temporary charge of the national team for the four World Cup qualifiers in June – says encourages them to perform and also informs them of the nations expectations.

“Wherever we have been, the number of people there has surprised even us. It says a lot about the expectation that the whole nation has for this game and my firm belief is that we will not fail them,” Sellas says.

Any qualifying hopes has to start from the first group phase in the African qualifying competition, where Ghana would have to get past Libya, Lesotho and Gabon before moving to the next stage of the campaign.

Group 5 looks like a fairly easy stable for Ghana, with all the talents available, to ride over but it is expected to be very competitive.

Black Stars captain, John Mensah who has such a good feeling about Ghana's chances says the other teams would not come cheap.

“I have a good feeling about our campaign but we cannot underestimate any team,” the Ghana defender said on Friday.

Ghana’s game with Libya kicks off at 17:00GMT as the first group phase in the African qualifying competition for the 2010 African Nations Cup and World Cup gets under way.