Black Stars fixtures: Who are Ghana playing during international break?

Ghana will step up their preparations for the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar with two friendly matches in the upcoming international break this month.

The Black Stars are among the five countries that will represent the African continent at the world tournament set for the Gulf nation in November and December. Other nations are Africa champions Senegal, Cameroon, Morocco and Tunisia.

Ghana are drawn in Group H in Qatar alongside Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea. They will open their campaign against Portugal on November 24 at Stadium 974, face South Korea at Education City Stadium on November 28 and wind up their group matches against Uruguay on December 2 at Al Wakrah Sports Complex.

With the fixtures looking tricky, the Ghana Football Association organised build-up matches to help coach Otto Addo shape up his squad in readiness for the showpiece event.

GOAL takes this opportunity to guide you through the Black Stars' next two matches in the international break, against Brazil and Nicaragua.

Brazil vs Ghana

The Black Stars will first take on the Selecao at Stade Oceane in France on September 23.

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Addo has already named a squad of 24 players for the task including new faces - Brighton & Hove Albion right-back Tariq Lamptey, Athletic Bilbao forward Inaki Williams, Southampton defender Mohammed Salisu, and Stephan Ambrosius, who features for 2. Bundesliga club Karlsruher SC on loan from Hamburger SV.

The aforementioned switched their allegiance to represent the Black Stars at international level and will get the chance to make their debuts for the West African nation.

Brazil, whose last fixture saw them defeat Japan 1-0, have named a star-studded squad for the friendly which includes Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker, Chelsea defender Thiago Silva, Manchester United midfield duo Casemiro and Fred, and Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar.

Ghana and Brazil have met three times in history with the African nation losing on each occasion. The first meeting came in 2006 during the World Cup which Brazil won 3-0 at Signal-Iduna-Park, and their second face-off was in 2007 in a friendly that Brazil won 1-0.

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The most recent meeting was in 2011 in another friendly which the Selecao won 1-0 courtesy of a Leandro Damiao strike at Craven Cottage.

As per the latest Fifa rankings released in August, Brazil are leading the world while Ghana are rated 60th globally and 11th in Africa.

Ghana vs Nicaragua

Four days after taking on Brazil, Ghana will return to action this time against Nicaragua at Estadio Francisco Artes Carrasco in Spain.

Nicaragua is based in Central America, sitting between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, and is well known for its terrain of lakes, volcanoes and beaches.

Records indicate the two nations have never faced off before but Ghana enjoy a good run of results from the last five matches in all competitions. While Ghana have managed four wins, Nicaragua have three victories.

As per the Fifa rankings, Nicaragua are ranked 139 globally but the country's highest ranking ever was 98 in December, 2015 while the lowest was 193 registered in May, 2001.