Stars face Socceroos in London

Accra, Oct. 20 (GHP) - The Black Stars of Ghana will play the Socceroos of Australia in a soccer friendly in London on Nov. 14.

Loftus Road, the home of English Championship club Queens Park Rangers, will play host to the match.

The game, the fourth in succession by the Black Stars after their historic performance at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, forms part of the team's preparation for the 2008 Cup of Nations to be hosted by Ghana.

Randy Abbey, Communications Director of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), who confirmed this said, on Wednesday, plans were far advanced for the game, even though they are yet to sign the contract.

The Football Federation Australia however said on Friday that they have accepted the challange.

Australian coach Graham Arnold believes the clash will give the Socceroos another significant test as they head towards the Asian Cup finals in July.

"Our eyes are firmly on achieving success at the Asian Cup and matches like the one against Ghana are going to be crucial to our preparations," said Arnold.

"They are a very tough opposition who showed during the World Cup they are capable of being one of the best sides in the World.

"We hope that there will be plenty of Australian fans there. Many people made the trip from England over to Germany to support us during the World Cup so this is a great opportunity for them to see the team in action again."

The Stars after the World Cup have become one of the attractive teams receiving series of invitations from other countries for international matches. They first defeated fellow World Cup participants, Togo 2-0, with the recent conquest of Asian giants Japan and South Korea by 1-0 and 3-1 score lines respectively.

Ghana, ranked 24 in the world, 13 places lower than Australia, was the only African nation to make the second round of the 2006 World Cup.