Jet-lagged But Happy, Ghanaians Ready For Their Debut At Wembley Stadium

There is also the chance to become the first African team to defeat England, as well as a glistening Wembley shop window for many of their players who will want to join Richard Kingson, John Paintsil, John Mensah, Sulley Muntari and Gyan in the Premier League.

Yet above all, tonight’s match matters for national pride. The importance of international football in Africa was summed up by Gyan, who paid his own way to Congo-Brazzaville on Sunday even though he was suspended.

With 20,000 tickets sold for the official away end tonight, no away team at Wembley will have ever have received such support.

The one burning question, however, was whether there is resentment at England fielding what will largely be their reserve team?

“We are playing against England but maybe some of the fans are there to see some of the big, big names,” said Gyan, who missed the penalty that would have secured victory over Uruguay in the World Cup quarter-final.

“It is unfortunate they are not playing. It’s one of those things, I might be disappointed, but those facing Ghana are still in the national side. Maybe they are better than those that are out.”

Goran Stevanovic, Ghana’s Serbian coach, was equally unmoved. “I’m sure they did that because it is a friendly game, if it was an official game they wouldn’t have,” he said.

“We are playing against England, not one or two players. The players who start will be the best in England.”

An exceptional team spirit clearly underpinned Ghana’s success in South Africa. “The atmosphere in our camp is amazing,” Mensah said.

“We all sing together, African music, songs from our childhood in Ghana. When you join Ghana, you are not an individual, we play as a team. We thank God for what we did at the World Cup. We fought hard and worked hard as a team, we played like brothers. This is the first time Ghana played England so it is very important to us. It will be a historic match because if we win we make history.”