Stars hoping for sparkle in daunting debut

GHANA have long been one of the strongest teams in Africa and have also won the Under-17 world championships but it was not until qualifying for the 2006 World Cup that they finally got matters right and booked a ticket to football's biggest competition.

Four-time African champions, a mark only recently bettered by Egypt, Ghana had to negotiate a preliminary round and then overcome 2010 hosts South Africa as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo before they could choose their hotel in Germany.

Their World Cup dreams may have crumbled as early as their first match when they were beaten by Burkino Faso 1-0, but they got back on track in their next match thrashing South Africa 3-0 in Kumasi at their lucky ground to get things back on track.

They never looked back after that sole defeat putting together a record of six wins three draws and a defeat to easily top Group 3 with a five-point cushion.

They even survived the surprise resignation of their coach Mariano Barreto who jumped ship in mid-course to take the reins at Portuguese club Maritimo.

In came Serbian Ratomir Dujkovic in late 2004 who safely guided them through but a look at their recent performance at the African Nations Cup in 2006 does not breed encouragement for the task at hand in June when they will face the Czech Republic, the United States and Italy.

In Egypt, the Black Stars gave up a late winner to Nigeria in their group opener, beat Senegal to raise hopes and then shockingly lost to Zimbabwe to embarrassingly crash out in the first round.

Some pundits are sceptical about Ghana's World Cup chances, claiming they lack experience, will struggle for depth in case of injuries and most importantly because they have been drawn in one of the toughest groups in the tournament.

Their captain is Stephen Appiah who was fundamental in qualifying and he has robust support in the form of Chelsea dynamo Michael Essien who was nominated as one of the three best African players for 2005.

Sulley Ali Muntari is also a handy midfielder and that is the strongest area of the pitch for Ghana while up front Asamoah Gyan and Matthew Amoah are the men responsible for putting the ball in the back of the net.

Ghana go into their maiden tournament as rank outsiders with a daunting opening match against three-time champions Italy. ?