Ghana set to be handed good World Cup draw

Ghana will be in Pot 3 for the WC draw

Ghana will avoid all the tough African countries in the group phase of the World Cup after being put in Pot 3 ahead of Friday's draw for next year's tournament in South Africa.

 
But the Black Stars will thus not avoid favourites like Spain or Brazil, who are two of the other seeded sides, in the group stage.

Argentina, Germany, Netherlands, holders Italy and hosts South Africa make up the remaining seeded nations.

Ghana are in Pot 3 along with Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile and Uruguay.

A worst case scenario on Friday would arguably see Milovan Rajevac's side take on Brazil, Mexico and France.

A far easier proposition on paper would have Ghana facing Slovenia, Holland and New Zealand.

The 32 qualifiers will be assembled into eight groups on Friday in Cape Town when the draw is made for next summer's tournament from 1745 GMT.

The eight seeds will all be in pot one, with the remaining three pots drawn on regional boundaries.

Each will face one team in pot three - a team from Asia, north or central America, or Oceania - one team from pot three - which has five African and three South American sides - and one from the exclusively European pot four.

Pots for Friday's draw: eight groups of four countries to be drawn, each group containing one country from each pot.

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Pot 1 (seeds): South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England

Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania and North/Central America): Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Mexico, Honduras

Pot 3 (Africa and South America): Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay

Pot 4 (Europe): France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia