French-based Ghanaian defender Gideon Mensah says the Black Stars are determined to improve on their performance at the last FIFA World Cup as preparations continue for the 2026 tournament.
The AJ Auxerre defender is part of Ghana’s 28-man squad currently preparing for the Mundial and is expected to make the final squad after the upcoming friendly against Wales.
Ghana will be making their fifth appearance at the FIFA World Cup after qualifying for the tournament, which will be co-hosted by United States, Canada and Mexico next month.
The Black Stars have been drawn in Group L alongside England, Croatia and Panama.
Speaking ahead of the tournament, Mensah admitted the team’s immediate target is to progress beyond the group stage after Ghana’s early exit at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“We are hoping that we do better than our last World Cup, which is to go out of the group stage and then we take it from there,” he said.
“I mean we can aim to go to the finals and to win the World Cup, but then it needs to start from somewhere. So, if we are to go to the last World Cup, then I think we have to also focus on getting out of the group stage and then from there we can look into what will happen,” he added.
Mensah recently helped Auxerre secure survival in the French Ligue 1 and will be hoping to play a key role for Ghana as the Black Stars prepare to open their World Cup campaign against Panama before facing England and Croatia respectively.
