Antoine Semenyo backs Ghana to qualify for the knock out rounds of the World Cup - despite finishing bottom of the group four years ago

Manchester City star Antoine Semenyo is confident Ghana can cause an upset at the World Cup and progress into the latter stages of the tournament.

Ghana finished bottom of their group in Qatar four years ago but the wing wizard is confident that the Black Stars will be far better this time around.

Semenyo will come up against England in the second group game in Boston and the 26-year old is looking forward to testing himself on the biggest stage.

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Semenyo, the new Global Brand Ambassador for Ahmad Tea, said: “We believe we can cause some upsets ourselves. We have a great group. We are missing some key players through injury but we still have so much talent in the team.

“It is going to be a tough group and the first target is to get out of that, but we back ourselves against any team, so if we can get into the knockout stages then who knows how far we can go?

“I’m just looking forward to getting out there and playing more minutes on the biggest stage.

“The last World Cup was disappointing as we didn’t get out of the groups. Our target is to do better than that this time.”

It has been a rapid rise for Semenyo since the last World Cup when he was playing in the Championship for Bristol City. But a move to the Premier League followed shortly after the tournament when he joined Bournamouth for £10m.

After three excellent years on the south coast, Semenyo earned a big money move to Manchester City in January and helped them to a domestic cup double.

Reflecting on the last World Cup Semenyo is proud of what he achieved but feels in a better place this time around.

Ghana kick off their World Cup campaign against Panama in Toronto.

Semenyo added: “To go to the World Cup as a Championship player was a proud moment personally for me.

“That was a great time, but this World Cup I feel more prepared as a player and even more focussed to really do my best.”

Antoine Semenyo is the new Global Brand Ambassador for Ahmad Tea, one of the world's leading family-owned tea companies. For more information about Ahmad Tea and its commitment to quality, craftsmanship and sustainability, visit www.ahmadtea.com

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James Andrew is the editor of FourFourTwo, overseeing both the magazine and website. James is an NCTJ qualified journalist and began his career as a news reporter in regional newspapers in 2006 before moving into sport a year later. In 2011 he started a six year stint on the sports desk at the Daily Mail and MailOnline. James was appointed editor of FourFourTwo in December 2019. Across his career James has interviewed the likes of Franco Baresi, Sir Alex Ferguson, David Beckham and Michael Owen. James has been a Fulham season ticket holder since the mid-1990s and enjoys watching them home and away, through promotion and relegation.