Dubai: Ghanaian superstar Asamoah Gyan is confident of a fourth successive entry into the World Cup as he departed for Round 3 of African qualifiers to the 2018 Fifa World Cup from next week.
Ghana is one of 20 teams of the total 53 entered to decide the five qualifying spots on offer from the African continent. Ghana advanced to the third stage of qualifiers with an aggregate 2-0 win over Comoros last year. The West African nation will play in Group E along with Uganda, Egypt and Congo with only the five group winners advancing to Russia.
Ghana open their campaign with a home fixture against Uganda on October 7, and exactly a month later travel to Cairo for their match against Egypt. “I feel happy playing for the national team. There is a task to be accomplished and I am ever willing to help out and do my best to see Ghana qualify for yet another World Cup,” Gyan told Gulf News after scoring a last-gasp goal in Al Ahli’s 3-2 win against neighbours Al Shabab in their preliminary round Arabian Gulf Cup match late on Thursday.
Despite being one of Africa’s giants, Ghana did not qualify for the World Cup until 2006. But since then, they have made it to all three editions on the trot. In their debut, Ghana reached Round of 16, and did one better at South Africa 2010, where they were eliminated in heartbreaking fashion by Luis Suarez’s Uruguay while on the brink of a historic spot in the semi-finals.
Ghana thrashed Egypt 6-1 to qualify for the last World Cup, but disappointingly lost two of the three preliminary round matches in Brazil. “That match against Egypt was nearly four years back. They have a pretty special team and we will need to keep an eye on them,” he cautioned.
Led by the widely travelled Avram Grant, the former Chelsea manager, Ghana made it to the final of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations where they lost on penalties to eventual champions Ivory Coast. The rebuilding has started under Grant with an array of top-class players, including Andre Ayew and his brother Jordan, Christian Atsu, Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Jonathan Mensah and Kwesi Appiah.
Gyan is the all-time leading goalscorer for Ghana with 48 goals from 95 appearances. He has played in all three editions featuring Ghana at the Fifa World Cups in 2006, 2010 and 2014, and scored six goals, Gyan is the top African goalscorer in the history of the World Cup. “Our actual campaign starts against Uganda next week, and we will be at our best to qualify for Russia,” Gyan said.
“Personally, I am pretty excited about the prospect of a fourth straight World Cup. But that will follow only if we keep our focus and do well in the qualifiers,” he added.
