Former Ghana international Osei Kofi has challenged the Black Stars to rise to the occasion and be 'ruthless' against Kenya in their final game of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

After three rounds of matches, following a ban on Sierra Leone, Kenya occupy Group F's top spot with seven points, one point better than Ghana. Both teams will meet in March next year, as Kwesi Appiah's men eye an eighth straight appearance at the Afcon finals.

"I believe this is a good opportunity for the Black Stars to pick their qualification slot in a grand style. They must be ruthless and defeat Kenya with a wider margin to send a signal to other countries that they are ready for the Afcon," the 78-year-old told Goal.

"An emphatic victory always brings good feelings so I'll entreat them to utilize every opportunity they get and score as many goals as they can to qualify.

"The 2-0 win over Ethiopia was good but the performance wasn't better so they shouldn't totally switch off against Kenya in that manner. This is because it can be dangerous when your opponents have good strikers.

"In the past, Ghana thrashed Kenya 13-0 and they had to send for our people from here to go and teach them how to play football. We can give them some lessons once again," he added.

Osei also insisted that the Black Stars remain one of the favourites to win the 2019 Afcon despite their struggles in the qualifying campaign.

"Ghana can win the Afcon because we have a good team and a good technical bench but we should first qualify for the tournament before we dream about lifting the cup," he said.

"Our records over the years show that we are one of the best sides on the continent. We should aim at one thing before the other so that we will be able to achieve all of them."

Osei was a member of Ghana squad that won the 1965 Afcon title and was the tournament's top scorer with three goals.