Former Zambia international Kalusha Bwalya is confident Ghana can beat Portugal in their 2022 FIFA World Cup group opener on Thursday.

Black Stars, who are the lowest-ranked team at the tournament have been drawn in Group H alongside Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay.

Ghana will take on Portugal in their first game at Stadium 974 (Rass Abou Aboud) before playing South Korea and Uruguay on November 28 and December 2 respectively.

"They should go into the game as Ghana, they are a very good team, very strong team and they can go there and dish it out against the best in the world and I feel they have a chance in the first game, to get a positive result," he told SuperSport TV.

"If they can get the result, they will send a strong message to the rest of the teams in the group that they mean business."

The 2022 FIFA World Cup takes place between November 20 and December 18, 2022.

Only three sides from the continent have ever progressed to the quarter-finals; Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002, and Ghana in 2010.

Ghana will be hoping to progress from the group stage at this year's tournament.

Black Stars exited the group stage at the 2014 edition in Brazil after a slow start to the tournament.