Ghana’s Black Stars will be Africa’s torchbearers in Brazil on account of their splendid displays in the two previous tournaments in Germany and South Africa in 2006 and 2010 respectively.
As debutantes in Germany 2006, Ghana, led by Serbian Ratomir Dujkovic, shocked the world by sailing through a difficult group, comprising Italy, Czech Republic and the USA to book a destiny date with Brazil in the second round which ended 0-3 in favour of the Selecao.
Obviously drawing inspiration from that graceful performance, the Black Stars under another Serbian coach, Milovan Rajevac, stormed South Africa four years later and nearly made history as the first Africa team to appear in the World Cup finals but for a Luis Suarez handball intervention for Uruguay.
That is the level of confidence which the Ghanaians, led by indigenous coach Kwasi Appiah, will be entering Brazil 2014 with in the face of tough group opponents: USA, Germany and Portugal.
The Stars will miss seven key players from the South African campaign but boast of a promising team which is a blend of youthful and experienced materials, giving Coach Appiah many options, especially in midfield and attack.
Easily Africa’s best representative in the last two Mundials, Ghana leads a solid CAF pack, including Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroun and Algeria to make a strong case for the continent in the historic World Cup in Brazil.
