Ghana to face Australia

Ghana's Black Stars will play Australia in a soccer friendly match in Sydney on May 23, Football Federation Australia (FFA) said on Friday.

The match serves as a warm-up for both countries World Cup qualifying matches - Australia against China on June 22, and Ghana against Lybia

``Ghana is one of the top 20 nations in the world and will provide us with ideal preparation ahead of the four vital World Cup qualifiers to follow,'' Ben Buckley, the FFA's chief executive officer, said in a statement.

"All of the players have said that they would make themselves available. No doubt Pim and the rest of his staff will have to weigh up the balance of the team to make sure players have had adequate time to recover from a gruelling season."

Ghana are expected to bring a strong team down under, including Chelsea's Michael Essien and Portsmouth's Sulley Muntari.

"There's conditions in our agreement that says they have to field a full-strength team so we're confident that they'll have their best available squad here to play as well," said Buckley.

"Certainly they play a different style of football than many of the teams we're playing in the Asia group. But it's a good chance for some of the players who haven't been regular members of the squad to put their hand up and stake a claim for matches during that crucial four-week period in June."

The Black stars will make the long journey to Australia for the game before flying back to Accra to face Libya in Kumasi a week later.

It will be the latest in a long line of friendly meetings between the two sides with the last one being a 1-1 draw in London in November 2006.

The Black Stars have a crowded schedule in June with three 2010 World Cup and African Cup qualifying games lined up in Kumasi against Libya, in Bloemfontein against Lesotho and in Libreville against Gabon.