Ghana's Black Stars are hoping to arrange an international friendly with the Flames of Malawi on January 3 to test their strength for Angola 2010, but the move is unlikely to be met with public approval.

"We have held discussions with the Malawi FA but a contract is yet to be sealed for the friendly. The point is that we have agreed to play them.

"There are some matches we are trying to put together and we can't confirm much at the moment," the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Vice-President Fred Pappoe told Ghanasoccernet.com.

However, the news has not gone down well with a cross section of fans in the capital Accra.

“How hot are the Flames of Malawi? We should be playing top teams to really test our preparedness and not second class teams. This is a joke and a waste of time," Joseph Mintah told Goal.com.

“It is waste of resources. When the Ivory Coast are playing Germany and top European teams we are rather lowering our par. The GFA must rethink and think again if they really want us to win the Nations Cup.”

Cynthia Sowu, a medical student, feels aggrieved too. “It’s a shame. They are minnows. Malawi is an unknown country in the world of football. We'd be better playing the local teams here in Ghana than waste our energy on them. Someone needs to talk to these dictators at the FA.”

The match is fixed to be played in Nelspruit – the camping base of the Black Stars in South Africa - ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.

The West Africans begin camping on 27 December, three days before the CAF player submission deadline for the Nations Cup.

Ghana are in Group D alongside Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Togo, their opening opponents at the tournament.