Paintsil Looks Ahead With Optimism

John Paintsil is hopeful the Ghana team would enter next year's World Cup finals in good form. The Fulham right-back is in contention of playing in a second successive World Cup having helped Ghana secure a place to South Africa. With qualification ensured despite Ghana having two matches to go in the African round of qualifiers, Paintsil is desperate to maintain a high level of performance ahead of next summer's event, the first to be staged by an African nation. "Ghana have qualified for the World Cup and we are looking forward to representing our country and our continent," he said. "June is a long way off, but hopefully we will reach that month in top form and without any injuries." Paintsil is also looking forward to European action with Fulham. The Cottagers will on Thursday be in Europa League action when the group stages get underway. Fulham will meet CSKA Sofia but with a hard won victory in the domestic campaign over Everton, Paintsil says the Cottagers are now looking up to the trip to Bulgaria. "I am very happy with that win," he told skysports.com in the aftermath of the Toffees success. "We need to pick up points at home in this difficult league, gaining three points at home has to be a must. "Now we can't wait for our Europa League campaign, because we want to show that we can compete at that level."