Newly appointed Black Stars head coach Charles Kwablah Akonnor has said that the four-time African champions must put in ”hard work” to enable them make it to the next round of the Qatar Fifa 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
Ghana will have to play regular opponents Bafana Bafana of South Africa after being drawn in group G.
Completing the Black Stars easy group are Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.
The 2010 World Cup quarter finalists will be hoping to make their fourth appearance at the global showpiece in Qatar in 2022, having previously participated in the Germany 2006, South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014 tournaments.
However, Aknnor who captained the Black Stars during his playing days, speaking in an interview after the draw in Cairo on Tuesday afternoon, was not complacent about the draw, indicating that it will only take hard work for the Black Stars to book a spot for the global showpiece 2022 in Qatar.
”I am believing that this is the time for us to do it but it is important for us to put in hard work,” Akonnor said.
“I cannot say that it is an easy group. It is important to respect all the teams. I know every team’s desire will be to qualify for the World Cup,” he added
Ghana is a great footballing nation and it is our dream to get to the World Cup and we will put in the hard work to qualify.
We know that the other teams in the group will do their bit to go to Qatar too but we will put in hard work and we know that hard work pays.”
The leaders of each group will qualify to the third round where they will be drawn into five home-and-away ties.
Only the winners of each group will seal passage to final playoff round for a spot at the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar
Coach CK Akonnor’s side were placed in pot one together with Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Cameroon, Mali and Congo DR before the final draw.
Black Stars head coach Charles Kwablah Akonnor and Ghana Football Association vice President Mark Addo and GFA General Secretary Prosper Harrison Addo were the three persons who represented at the draw in Cairo, Egypt on Tuesday afternoon.