Black Stars Friendlies And Brazil's Climatic Conditions

The Black Stars' preparations for next year�s World Cup will be influenced by the opponents Ghana are paired with after Friday's draw in Brazil. Ghana Football Association President Kwesi Nyantakyi says they will finalise preparations for next year�s finals soon after the draw. Impact of draw on plans Ghana, who will be a making a third-straight appearance at the World Cup finals after securing one of Africa's five places are yet to confirm their base and friendlies ahead of the 32-team competition. "The outcome of the draw will influence to a very large extent a number of decisions that will be taken in preparations to the World Cup. The first one is the team base camp," Nyantakyi said on Monday as he flew out with his team for the draw in Bahia. "The second one is the friendlies we will line up. The choice of friendlies will also be influenced by the outcome of the draw. Other plans in terms of monitoring opponents will be all be influenced by who we play in the group matches. "We will take certain major decisions after the World Cup draw." Expectation, motivation and 'Brazil of Africa' Ghana, who reached the quarter-finals in the previous competition will be drawn in a group containing one of the top eight seeds on Friday by virtue of their FIFA world ranking. "I am very confident about the chances of Ghana, I think we will go beyond the quarter-finals, that's my expectation," the GFA President said. "A number of reasons underline this feelings. We have gained positive knowledge and experience about the World Cup. We've been to two previous World Cups and this is our third successive qualification to the World Cup. "The is a lot of motivation playing in Brazil. Usually, people say Ghana is the 'Brazil of Africa' and the World Cup is being played in the 'Brazil of the World', then it's just a matter of course that the 'Brazil of Africa' must be there, so that motivation should edge us on." Climatic conditions Despite other nations expressing concern about the climatic conditions which vary across Brazil, Nyantakyi believes Ghana could benefit from the tropical conditions. "Weather and climatic conditions of Brazil, they appear to be similar to Africa," he said. "So it's no surprising that some European coaches and technicians are already predicting that Africa could do well, that African could produce a World Cup finalist and can lay a claim to winning the World Cup and Ghana could be a candidate of Africa towards this adventure. "I am very hopeful that all this things could work in our favour and put us in a very good stead to lay a strong claim to a good performance at the World Cup and even lay claim to winning the World Cup."