The new Ghana Football Association (GFA) regime of Benjamin Koufie has pushed failure to qualify for the World Cup finals out of its mind and is determined to make a statement that Ghana's football is still alive when the 23rd Nations Cup finals kick off in Mali next year January.

"We expect to be under-rated because of our inability to make it to the World Cup till now and the fact that we have not won the Nations Cup since 1982. But the Nations Cup is Ghana's preferred stage and even though, it is a tough group, we are very confident that we will qualify for the knock out stage," Koufie said after the September 8 draw in Bamako housed the Black Stars with 1996 champions South Africa, 1998 hosts Burkina Faso and 1976 champions Morocco in group B.

Ghana's black stars is the only team to have won the African title four times apart from Egypt. Yet, they were not the seeded team in group B. South Africa, the 1996 champions, are.

Reason is that the seeding is based on performances in the past three editions prior to the draw. In all those editions, South Africa have done better than Ghana, in fact, they were the nemesis of the Ghanaians in 1996 and 2000.

In a semi final clash in 1996, the Bafana Bafana routed the Black Stars 3-0 at the FNB Stadium, Johannesburg. Ghana's legendary skipper Abedi Pele, who watched from the sidelines having been knocked out of the tournament by injury he sustained in a final tie, managed to hold back tears.

While the South Africans braved the heat and humidity of Burkina faso in 1998 to reach the final (before losing to Hossam Hassan inspired Egypt), the Black Stars did not even make it to the knock out stage. They lost to Togo after a credible performance that saw them defeat Tunisia 2-0 in their first match. After losing 2-1 to their tiny West African neighbours, the Black Stars fell 1-0 to eventual bronze medallists Congo DR and were eliminated.

Last year as co hosts with Nigeria, Ghana avenged on Togo in the preliminary stage but were lucky to make the quarter final stage after a 2-0 bashing by Coted'Ivorie. That luck deserted them in the quarter finals, when they lost 1-0 to South Africa at the Kumasi Sports Stadium.

In actual terms, Ghana must be considered a stronger footballing nation than South Africa. The Ghanaian U_17 team has won the world championship twice and the ongoing finals in Trinidad and Tobago is the only tournament the Black Starlets have missed since 1989. In July, the U 20 team, Black Satellites were runners up in the World Youth Championships behind hosts Argentina, for the second time in the history of the competition.

Ghana won the Nations Cup in 1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982. In 1963 and 1978 they won as hosts. In 1965, they beat hosts Tunisia 3-2 after extra time in Tunis. In 1982, they beat hosts Libya on penalty shoot out after a 1-1 draw.

Why then do the Black Stars crumble when they play the Bafana Bafana?

"Ghanaian football is experiencing a renaissance and we are going to clear all doubts as to our ability at next year's Nations Cup. We have put the tragic events of the past few months behind us and look forward to the future with hope", Koufie was quoted as saying.

Among the 'tragic events' was the death in a stampede at the Accra Sports Stadium of at least 126 fans following a local league match between Hearts of Oak and bitter rivals Asante Kotoko of Kumasi on May 9.

Kotoko fans began ripping off plastic seats after the prodigious Ishmael Addo scored two quick goals in the final minutes to give Hearts victory. And over-reaction by policemen at the stadium led to wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Another tragedy in football teams was the elimination of the Black Starlets from the qualifying series for the African Junior Championships by Gambia. A team that won the bronze medal in New Zealand 99 was stopped from even playing in the continental championship by an obscure team.

The tap of disasters did not stop. Hearts, who won the African champions league with a devastating with an away defeat of Tunisian lords Esperance last year December, lost out in the very first round of this year's competition by Efoile of Congo, who did not even make it to the league phase.

The Black Stars were shocked 1-0 by Cape Verde in a West African Nations Cup qualifier, and then the Black Satellites lost their African title in Ethiopia, well beaten by Angola in the final.

In a World Cup qualifying group they were supposed to dominate with Nigeria, the Black Stars lost at home to Liberia and away to Sudan, and only rose to contention after a defeat of Liberia in Monrovia. A fortnight later, they were out of the race when Liberia pipped Sierra Leone in Freetown, before a comprehensive 3-0 defeat in Nigeria.

Indeed, the Nations Cup ticket is the only consolation in a rather sad season, and Koufie and his new team have decided to keep faith with the young generation that played the last three matches in the World Cup and African Nations cup qualifiers.

Captain Emmanuel Duah was a strong junior international and plays his club football with Uniao Leira in Portugal, He did not come to Port Harcourt for the final World Cup qualifier because the Black Stars were already out of the race.

From the team that played in the 1998 finals in Burkina faso, goalkeeper Richard Kingston, Samuel Kuffour, Mohammed Gargo, Alex Nyarko, Charles Akunnor, Peter Ofori Quaye, Emmanuel Osei Kuffour, Samuel Johnson and Constance Mantey made the final team for the 2000 finals.

Of this lot, Alex Nyarko is no longer in contention after walking out on his English Premiership team Everton and announcing his departure from football. But he recently got another contract and may still remain in the game.

Turkey -based goalkeeper Richard Kingston has to fight for his place with Hearts of Oak's Sammy Adjei and a couple of others looking good.

The big Samuel Johnson is eager to retum to the team after he and his cocky Europe based colleagues were sensationally shunned by Coach Jones Attuquayefio and later by Fred Osam-Duodu.

Former junior international and Barcelona '92 Olympics bronze medallist Samuel Osei Kuffour is Ghana's highest rated player at the moment after helping his German club, Bayern Munich to win the European Champions League Cup in May.

Emmanuel Osei Kuffour captained the Black Stars against the Super Eagles in Port Harcourt and has always proved to be a serious minded player. He started off as a goalkeeper, played as a midfielder, then as a defender before being converted to an attacker by Jones Attuquayefio at Hearts. He adapted well in the position and emerged the top scorer in last year's champions league.

During the World Cup match against Nigeria, he took position in goal after the goalkeeper got a red card, and did not concede any goal in some 50 minutes of play.

Certainly, Emmanuel Osei Kuffour is one guy the South Africans, Moroccans and Burkinabes have to beware of in Mali next year.

Burkina Faso, as Upper Volta played in the 1978 African Nations Cup finals held in Ghana. In a group A match in Accra, the Black Stars hit their neighbours to the north 3-0, with goals from George Alhassan and Mohammed Polo.

Ghana did not play at the 1976 Nations Cup that Morocco won. But the Atlas Lions denied the Black Stars a place in the France '98 World Cup finals with a painful defeat in Casablanca.

At the 1980 Nations Cup finals in Nigeria, the Atlas Lions denied the Black Stars a place in the semi finals with a 1-0 defeat at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan. Victory would have put the Black Stars, then defending champions, in the semi finals against Nigeria, who eventually won after beating Morocco 1-0 in the semi and Algeria 3-0 in the final.

On paper, South Africa and Morocco look the strongest teams in the group. But the Atlas Lions are not known to fire on all cylinders in the Nations Cup and went out tamely in the 1998 and 2000 finals after failing to reach the 1994 and 1996 editions.

That means the Black Stars should be considered good for a place in the quarter finals.