WUERZBURG, Germany, June 19 - Abedi Pele, one of Africa's finest footballers and the inspiration behind Ghana's team for more than a decade, said he was proud to see the Black Stars finally competing at the World Cup. Attending a training session with Ghana on Monday, the three-times African Footballer of the Year said he had waited a long time to see his country perform at the finals.

"We were waiting to see Ghana," the 43-year-old told reporters.

"We've seen Cameroon and others like Tunisia and Morocco and we were waiting for Ghana. Now Ghana have not disappointed anybody."

The West African nation qualified for their first World Cup after 11 previous attempts.

Drawn in Group E, they were beaten 2-0 in their opening game by Italy despite dominating for long periods and then stunned the highly-rated Czech Republic 2-0 on Saturday.

"We have a very wonderful team," he said. "We have a team which is very young and very determined to go far in the World Cup but at the same time I want us to be underdogs."

Pele, who won the European Cup with Olympique Marseille, said he would like to see the team remain quiet and focused and to do their talking on the pitch.

Ghana face a decisive encounter with United States in Nuremberg on Thursday and, if successful, they could play Brazil in the second round.

While not wanting to look too far ahead, former Ghana captain Pele said the world champions had not been entirely convincing in their first two wins over Croatia and Australia.

"But be careful," he said. "Brazil is Brazil. They go slowly and then they improve to the end so you have to be very careful.

"They have the greatest players in the world."

Pele is working as an ambassador for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.