Ghana have an admirable reputation in football, having been the only African side to get out of the group stage at the 2006 FIFA World Cp Germany and this year becoming the first to qualify for South Africa 2010.

Having gained experience since their 2006 attempt, when they lost to Italy and Brazil but beat the Czech Republic and USA, Ghana could be a major threat at Africa’s first FIFA World Cup. As seen on the free bets uk site, the odds for Ghana to go far in the World Cup 2010 is looking good.

This will only be their second appearance at the finals, but they have so far enjoyed a high level of success at all levels of international football, having won four CAF African Cup of Nations titles, though nine since 1982, as well as two FIFA U-17 World Cups. They also became the first African team to win the FIFAU-20 World Cup when they beat Brazil on penalties in October 2009.

Ghana progressed unbeaten through their opening four matches of the final round, guaranteeing their place in the finals. They didn’t concede a single goal in the group until a shocking 1 – 0 defeat at Benin, but that came after they had already qualified and therefore didn’t threaten their position. The key stretch for the team was in June 2009, when they won 2 – 0 away to both Mali and Sudan. Germany 2006 veteran Matthew Amoah scored a goal in the first match and both in the second. Ghana were somewhat less secure in their previous round of qualifying, only topping their group on goal difference over Gabon and Libya after they actually lost a match to both teams.

Ghana were the youngest team to appear at Germany 2006, where their average age was just under twenty four years old. Player Asamoah Gyan scored the fastest goal of the 2006 World Cup after only 68 seconds, in their 2 – 1 win over the Czech Republic. It was also Ghana’s first ever goal in the finals. Although they lost 3 – 0 to Brazil in the second round of Germany 2006, they were without key player Michael Essien who had been suspended. Ghana are in Group D of the group phrase along with Germany, Australia and Serbia.