GhanaFA

Ghana brace up for World Cup draw challenge

10 years ago
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Expectations surrounding Ghana's third-straight appearance at the World Cup and the possibility of drawing some former champions is a challenge for the Black Stars, says Kwesi Nyantakyi.

The Ghana Football Association President and his team have flown to Brazil on for Friday's draw ceremony as the Black Stars team will discover who they face in next year's finals.

After reaching the quarter-finals in the previous World Cup, the Black Stars, who are not one of the top seeds, could land in the same group as hosts Brazil, world champions Spain, Argentina and Germany.

"A a draw is a draw. You have very little input into it. You can't really determine which opponent you play but you always pray that you get a favourable opponent," GFA President, Kwesi Nyantakyi said ahead of the draw in Bahia.

"Having qualified to the World Cup, you must also brace yourself to the task and the challenge that you are going to meet strong opponents. Ghana have been placed in Pot 3, it means that that teams which rank higher than Ghana on the FIFA ranking are in Pots 2 and 1. There are even strong teams, some of them even former World champions who are in Pot 4, namely Italy and France.

"It means that it's going to be a very challenging task. We just need to know who are opponents are and we can plan out the necessary strategies to contain and overcome whatever threat they will pose our team."

The Black Stars, who came close to reaching the semi-finals at the 2010 finals in South Africa will be seeking to improve on that feat.

"I am hopeful that whoever we meet, we will be able to plan well, put our team in good shape so we can beat them.

"We want to build on our track record, our experience and progress even further than we got to at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. We are very expectant, very positive about our performance at the World Cup and that will begin with the draw on who we meet."

Teams in Pots

Pot 1 Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Uruguay, Switzerland, Brazil

Pot 2 Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras

Pot 3 Chile, Ecuador, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, France.

Pot 4 Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, Greece, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Russia