Ghana attacker Osman Bukari has stated the Black Stars are not focusing on Manchester United ace and five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of their clash with Portugal at the World Cup.
For the world gathering in Qatar, the Black Stars have been drawn in a tricky Group H, which also features Portugal, Uruguay, and South Korea.
Ghana have had previous meetings with both the Selecao and La Celeste at the tournament, the games ending in major disappointments.
“We all know the group we find ourselves in, it's a difficult group but the good thing is that we’ve played between all the teams,” Nantes winger Bukari told Wontumi FM.
“We’ve played Portugal and everyone knows what’s between us and Uruguay.
“We just have to be careful in our group because it is not an easy group. All the teams in there are good so it is up to us to do the right thing.
“We are not thinking about Ronaldo, we are concentrating on ourselves. Frankly speaking, the group is difficult.”
On their last appearance at the World Cup in 2014, Ghana exited the competition in the group stage following a 2-1 loss to Portugal in their last match, with Ronaldo scoring the match winner.
It was the first time the Black Stars had failed to go past the first round of the competition in history.
Four years earlier at the 2010 championship in South Africa, Ghana suffered elimination in the quarter-final after losing 4-2 on penalties to Uruguay, the match having ended 1-1 after extra-time after Luis Suarez’s handball denied the Black Stars a seeming match winner and Asamoah Gyan blasted the resulting penalty against the woodwork.
Former Ghana striker Augustine Arhinful, meanwhile, believes the West Africans have a good chance of making it past the group stage in Qatar.
He told GNA Sports: “Ghanaians are always quick to arrive at a decision when it comes to football, but these are technical things that we need to do and so on the day, on the pitch, if you are able to put your acts together, the sky would always be your limit.
“I would not look at Portugal having Ronaldo and the likes, Uruguay having Suarez and the likes, and South Korea having Son [Heung-Min] and the rest [and say we can’t qualify].”
The World Cup runs from November 21 to December 18.
