Former national team star midfielder Nii Odartey Lamptey has told 90 MINUTES his dread of Ghana’s first opponents at the 2010 World Cup, Serbia.

The Black Stars take on the country of Coach Milovan Rajevac in Sunday’s Group D fixture and Odartey is calling on the national team players to take the game as the most important match of the competition.

Serbia have struggled in pre-World Cup friendlies, among them losing to New Zealand but have reminded their critics of their potential by scoring four goals fellow African World Cup reps Cameroon, the prefect opponents to prepare for Ghana.

In Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic, Inter Milan midfielder Dejan Stankovic, Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic, new Birmingham City striker Nikola Zigic, among a host others, the Serbians parade names that can strike fear into any opponent on their day.

“Serbia will be tough and we have to play that match as if our whole life depends on it. I have watched them twice and they were brilliant.

“That’s my fear because they play so well even on bad pitches and they have class everywhere,” Odartey told 90 MINUTES.

The hero of Ghana’s 1991 U-17 World Cup win and Barcelona 1992 Olympic bronze medal success is also wary that the Serbs also qualified for SA 2010 with two matches to spare ahead of France in their European qualifying group.

But Odartey has reposed a massive dose of confidence in captain Appiah and company to make it past the group stages. “There is always pressure in these big competitions but most of these players have been there before, it is nothing new so I expect them to stand up and fight for Ghana.

“As a player, I didn’t always like playing against the likes of Serbia, Uruguay and Mexico. They are always difficult but we hope and pray that we will make it out of the group stages,” Nii Lamptey told 90 MINUTES.