"Black Stars not ready for World Cup"- Ghana coach Otto Addo

Otto Addo believes his team needs some strengthening to be ready for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America. 

The Black Stars sealed their place at the tournament after Madagascar lost to Mali to give Ghana an unassailable lead in Group I.

The West African completed the qualifiers with a 1-0 victory over Comoros in Accra to crown an comeback following the disappointment of missing the Africa Cup of Nations.

Despite the team's spectacular performances in the qualifiers, where they recorded big wins against Chad, Madagascar and Central African Republic, Addo insists there is a lot of work to be done.

"We have to take it game by game, you know? People who are now talking about the World Cup, sorry, but we are nowhere close. The squad, I think, 2010 made the quarterfinals. And they had seven, eight players who were playing regular in the Champions League or top level. We are not there yet," he said after the game against Comoros.

"No, I think that we have to put together good players, work hard so that they can get to this top level. But those days, we had players playing Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus, Fenerbahce. You don't want me to share this class. As a regular player of Olympic Marseille, those days, they were like PSG. To play in this club as a regular player it's massive. And if you look at our players, please, with all the respect, but we are not there. We're not there. So, we need to take each game by game, and then we need to grow.

"And even last World Cup, we were very close. We had our chances to go to the next round. But this is also football. Sometimes, you know, you don't use your chances, then this happens. So, it's very, very important that we strengthen us. We use the training games to strengthen ourselves, and then we take each game by game to get better."

The Black Stars will know their group opponents at the draw to be held in Washington DC on December 5, 2025.

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