Ghana defender John Mensah has played down talk about an African advantage at the World Cup with the tournament being held on the continent for the first time in its history.

South Africa is the hosts of the competition which will see five other African nations including Ghana participate.

The Black Stars on their debut four years ago in Germany were the continents best representative by reaching the round of 16.

However, with the event being staged in Africa, the expectations are rather high.

"I'm glad to play in it as it's the first time the World Cup has come to Africa," the Lyon defender told The Journal newspaper.

"But just because it's in Africa doesn't mean an African team is going to win it.

"We don't need to think that because it's in Africa we'll have things our own way. We need to determine that ourselves."

Ghana will need to qualify from a tough Group D which features Serbia, Germany and Australia with the opening game against the Serbs on Sunday.