The Black Stars’ Serbian Coach Milovan Rajevac is determined to emulate the fine example set by his compatriot Ratomir Dujkovic, who in 2006 took Ghana to the FIFA World Cup for the first time. Dujkovic had taken over the management of the team at a dicey time when the Black Stars were on the verge of missing the World Cup one more time, but he majestically braved the storms and saw the Black Stars through to Germany 2006 amidst nationwide applause.

Milovan Rajevac finds himself in quite a similar situation. One would even say it is a more critical situation because any slip by the Black Stars in their last qualifying match next week would see them bowing out of the World Cup qualifying series in the first round. In other words, the Stars could miss the group stages where 20 teams from Africa will battle for the five places allotted to Africa for the 2010 World Cup. They can avoid this setback only with a neat victory over Lesotho in Sekondi on Oct 11.

The Stars missed a golden opportunity to top the table when they lost to Libya after a lacklustre performance that saw them also losing the services of livewire Michael Essien through a nasty knee injury. Now Libya tops the group with 12 points, followed by Gabon and Ghana with nine points apiece, while Lesotho has no point. This means if Gabon beat Libya by even 1-0, Ghana must beat Lesotho by a margin of four or more to top the table. If Libya earns a draw and Ghana wins, the Black Stars would have to wait for FIFA to decide whether they merit to be considered among the best eight runners up to compete in the second round alongside the group winners.

It is all these permutations and the zeal to strengthen the credibility of Serbian coaches, that Black Stars coach Milovan Rajevac has mapped out a strategy for the Oct 11 showdown against whipping boys Lesotho. The coach has revamped the team for the crucial qualifier with the explanation that nobody is guaranteed a place and that some seemingly top players could be dropped for tactical reasons. He made particular mention of crowd favourite, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie of Birmingham City who is being replaced by Matthew Amoah, who plays for Dutch Club NEC Breda.

Other new call ups for the Lesotho match include Prince Tagoe of Al-Ittifaq, Saudi Arabia and Liberty Professionals duo of Yaw Antwi and Daniel Yeboah. Conspicuously missing is midfielder Laryea Kingston on suspension with two yellow cards.

Goalkeepers:

Richard Kingston (Wigan Athletic, England)

George Owu (El Masry, Egypt)

William Amamoo (Etasellat, Egypt)

Defenders:

John Paintsil, (Fulham,England)

Harrison Afful (Gomoa Feyenoord, Ghana)

Samuel Inkoom(Asante Kotoko,Ghana)

John Boye(Stade Rennes, France)

David Addy(RandersFC, Denmark)

John Mensah(Olympique Lyon, France)

Eric Addo(PSV Eindhoven, Holland)

Midfielders:

Daniel Yeboah(Liberty Professionals, Ghana)

Sulley Muntari(Inter Milan, Italy)

Anthony Annan(Rosenberg, Norway)

Haminu Dramani(Locomotive Moscow, Russia)

Moussa Narry(Auxerre, France)

Stephen Appiah(unattached)

Agyeman Badu (Berekum Arsenals, Ghana).

Strikers:

Junior Agogo (Zamalek, Egypt)

Matthew Amoah (NAC Breda, Holland)

Yaw Antwi(Liberty Professionals, Ghana)

Eric Bekoe(Asante Kotoko, Ghana)

Prince Tagoe (Al-Ittifaq, Saudi Arabia)

This is a strong squad in all respects and all things being equal a winnable team could be picked to deliver the goods.

Coach Rajevac had a rather traumatic experience in his first competitive match in charge of the Black Stars which they lost against Libya and his interesting comments were that he was surprised to see his team play as if they did not want to score. After nearly three months in the saddle, he is now saying with some amount of confidence that “if the players do as I say and if we all work together as a team then we have an excellent chance of making it to Angola and South Africa”.

There is no doubt that the Black Stars would not like their World Cup participation be seen as a nine- day wonder and that they would go all out and score a convincing win over Lesotho next Saturday at the newly built Sekondi Sports Stadium in the Western Region.