After a year of steady progress, Ghana departed China 2007 with three defeats in three games.

Despite that bitterly disappointing return, the Africans gained some useful experience that ought to stand them in good stead for the future.

One man determined to keep his spirits up is the Black Queens' coach Isaac Paha. "No matter how hard you try in football, you will always make mistakes," he said.

"Yes, we lost our three matches but that's part of the game and we shouldn't be downhearted about it. What we need to do now is build on the foundations we've laid here."

With an average age of a little of over 25, the Ghanaians fully expected to struggle against their far more experienced opponents in Group C: Norway, Canada and Australia.

Although several of the older squad members had travelled to previous FIFA Women's World Cup finals, some of them had never actually played in the tournament before.

Not that teenage hopefuls such as Doreen Awuah and Anita Amankwa can use the same excuse now, both of them enjoying valuable time out on the pitch in China.

"In the first game we realised straight away that things were not going to go as we expected," added Paha.