Ghana's passage to the World Cup finals in South Africa next summer has been secured after they built a formidable lead at the head of Group D of the African section of qualifying. The Black Stars have won all four of their games so far, without conceding, and Michael Essien revealed that the mood in the camp was subdued because of the expectation levels.

The battling midfielder drew parallels with England's campaign. Both nations were expected to finish top of their group, Essien claimed, and they qualified with two games in hand. The Chelsea star now hopes that the two countries are paired together in the knock-out stages in South Africa. "This will be our second World Cup in a row and most of the guys who played for Ghana in Germany 2006 are still in the team so I am expecting an improvement on our second-round exit to Brazil," he said in a blog on his official website.

"We expected to make it to South Africa 2010, so much so that after beating Sudan to qualify there wasn't that much of a celebration. It was a subdued atmosphere as we left the pitch and even in the dressing room it was all thumbs up and well done with no big celebrations.

"That's how far this Ghanaian squad has come."

Essien continued: "In some ways England 's qualification was similar to ours in that they also qualified with two games to go and they were also expected to qualify so it wasn't a big deal after the game.

"Now both teams are at the World Cup, my wish will be for Ghana to play against England either in the group stages or at the knockout stage.

"If we both have fully fit squads to choose from it will be a battle without a doubt - Michael Essien, Stephen Appiah, Sulley Muntari, versus Frank Lampard, Stephen Gerrard and Gareth Barry in the middle of the park.

"As we say in Ghana, when two elephants fight: it's the grass that suffers."