Ghana Ready For Any Team

Black Stars coach, Kwasi Appiah, says he has no worries over which teams Ghana will face at the group stages of the FIFA World Cup next year. On Friday, the Stars will know their fate when the draw is held. The Stars, who will be making their third successive appearance at football�s biggest global gathering, have been put in Pot 3, while the top seeds, made up of the first 10 teams in the world, are in Pot 1. Ghana face the prospects of meeting Brazil at the group stage, and some teams will be praying that they avoid an early clash with the big teams as well as traditional bogey sides. Nonetheless, Appiah is not losing sleep over his opponents but says he would rather expend his energy on how well his team prepares for the tournament. �Frankly, I�m not worried about who we meet at the group stages. Yes, who we play at the group stage should be of interest to me and everyone else, but there is very little I can do about it. �However, I can determine the quality preparations we have and so I�ll prefer that rather engages my attention the more�, Appiah told the Graphic Sports in Accra at Monday before leaving for Brazil in the company of the Ghana Football Association President, Kwesi Nyantakyi, and the association�s acting General Secretary, Emmanuel Gyimah. �I�ve no expectations or fears. Neither do I have any preferences nor am I worried about the group members. �I�m practically prepared for anything,� said Appiah, who made a successful transition from assistant coach at the last World Cup to the team�s head coach at next year�s tournament. He said the experience that he had garnered as an assistant coach during the Stars� participation at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa had given him a good grounding to build upon for the 2014 event. �It was a good experience for me and I learnt a lot. I think that we will be fine. Everyone who has qualified to be at the World Cup has done so on merit and they have to be given the respect they deserve,� Coach Appiah observed. �You always know what to expect when you play the big teams. In any case, if you avoid them early, you�re likely to meet them at the next stage. Moreover, avoiding the so-called �unknown� teams is usually a dangerous trap as you do not know what they present. �For me, every team that has qualified for the World Cup is a potential threat and one must be prepared for them at any level,� he stated. With teams in the four pots revealed, the Stars could be facing any of the teams in Pots 1, 2 and 4 and will avoid meeting the other members from Africa, as well as Chile, Ecuador and France. Pot 1: Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Uruguay, Switzerland, Brazil Pot 2: Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras Pot 3: Chile, Ecuador, Cote d�Ivoire, Ghana, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, France. Pot 4: Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, Greece, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Russia