Ghana will face familiar foes, South Africa, in their bid to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar after the draw was made on Tuesday.
The Black Stars were drawn against South Africa who they beat to reach the 2006 World Cup and also involved in the quest to make the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. Ethiopia and another Southern Africa side Zimbabwe are also in Group G with Ghana.
The expectation is that the Black Stars will walk over their opponents in the qualifying series, but the new head coach of the team, C. K. Akunnor is adamant it is important to respect the other teams in the group.
“You can’t say it’s an easy group. It’s important to respect all the teams, [and] I know it’s the desire for every team to qualify. We’d put in the hard work to qualify. Ghana is a great football nation and it’s our dream to get to the World Cup.” he said.
“We know all the teams, South Africa and Zimbabwe will do all their best to get there but we will put in hard work and we know that hard work pays.”
Akunnor also stated how important it is for the Black Stars to return to the world stage. Ghana missed out on the World Cup in 2018 after failing to make the grade in a group that consisted Egypt, Congo and Uganda.
“The last one we went [to] was Brazil 2014. We didn’t qualify for the next one [in Qatar] so we are believing that this is the time for us to do it. But it’s important to put in the hard work. We will put a lot of work on the desire we have to achieve that,” he stated.
The second round of the qualifying games is scheduled to begin in October 2020, when the teams will play each other in a home and away format. The ten group winners will progress to the third and final round, which will produce final qualifiers out of two-legged play-off ties.
By Thierry Nyann|3news.com|Ghana