As the World Cup comes to Africa to be hosted by South Africa, Ghana would be seeking to make a successive appearance at the tournament that every footballing nation desires to be part of.
Apart from the sport’s biggest competition, the Black Stars would also be aiming at being part of the continent’s flagship sporting event, the Africa Nations Cup, which would be staged in Angola. Interestingly, both tournaments would be come off in 2010 with the months of January and June hosting the tournaments.
The sole duty for the senior national team, the Black Stars beginning this June would be to qualify for the 2010 World Cup and Africa Nations Cup tournaments.
In theory, this agenda is easy to achieve. In practice, it can be proven wrong.
However, the Ghana Football Association believes the Black Stars stand a good chance of representing the nation at both tournaments in 2010.
Planning for the team has already started as the FA launches its 'Agenda 2010' campaign with the hope of ensuring that the team clinches the Nations Cup title in Angola and improve n its round-of-16 place at the last World Cup.
FA President, Kwesi Nyantakyi speaking at press briefing on Tuesday explained that the nation would have to put behind them the failure to win the 2008 Nations Cup and prepare for the challenges ahead.
“The upward trend of the Black Stars started in 2005 and we have not looked back.
“We should not be let down about our inability to win gold at the 2008 African Nations Cup. We have to qualify for the next Nations Cup and World Cup tournaments, try to win the CAN title away from home and make an impact at the World Cup,” the FA President said.
“Agenda 2010 is in two components. There’s a January Cup of Nations assignment and the World Cup in June.
“We have a short-long term plan to realize our campaign. The FA is taking advantage of all the FIFA and UEFA match days to play matches. We would make use of all this dates to ensure that our team is prepared for the up-coming fixtures.
“The expectation of CAF President, Issa Hayatou is that one of Africa’s teams must be at the semis and I have no doubt that Ghana is the obvious choice.”
Ghana would begin its qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup and Africa Nations Cup tournaments at home with a game against Libya at the Baba Yara Stadium on June 1.