Black Stars deputy skipper, Andre Ayew, believes it is going to be difficult for the team to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia because there are no longer average teams in Africa.

The Stars were drawn as top seeds in Group E of the African zone of the World Cup qualifiers alongside seven-time African champions, Egypt, as well as Congo and Uganda.

However, the Swansea City forward, who featured in Ghana’s last two World Cup campaigns in South Africa and Brazil, insists there are no easy matches in football, pledging that the team will give their all to ensure the Black Stars qualify for their fourth successive World Cup.

"It's a very important tournament, the best tournament in the world," the 26-year-old said on the sidelines of his signing of a five-year brand ambassadorial deal with uniBank yesterday in Accra.

He added, "We all know that today's football and the past are not the same. Today all the teams have good players, good coaches and you cannot underrate any team."

The left-footed player stated that the immediate focus of the team was to win their opening qualifiers against Uganda and Egypt on October 10 and November 15 respectively after which they would switch their focus to winning AFCON 2017 in Gabon.

"We have two World Cup qualifying games coming up, that's our priority, we are going to try to get good results from these two games, from there we will see the Nations Cup. We will take it step by step.

"This group is a tough group and it's going to be very difficult to go through."