Gyan targets goals on Ghana return

Asamoah Gyan, who is poised to make his long-awaited Ghana comeback, says he wants to help the Black Stars win against Malawi in the qualifying for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

Gyan has not played since last February's Nations Cup semi-final defeat to Zambia and followed up with a temporal international break which lasted for six months.

The Al-Ain striker returned for Ghana's 1-1 friendly draw against China this month but was an unused substitute due to precautionary measures after a slight injury.

The striker, included in Kwesi Appiah's team for the first leg qualifier against the Flames on 8 September in Accra says the Nations Cup game is an important fixture for Ghana.

“It’s [Malawi game] one of the important games we have this year. I think people are expecting us to win and we will give Ghanaians what they want at the Accra Sports Stadium,” Gyan said.

Ghana have scored once in their last two matches since their 7-0 routing of Lesotho in a World Cup qualifier.

But Gyan believes the Black Stars will have to clinical in the first leg to enhance their chances of reaching the finals in South Africa next year.

“We need to be scoring more goals in the first leg and see in Malawi. I learnt they are every good team,” the Ghana striker said. “I haven’t seen them playing and I believe in the Black Stars.”

“I feel comfortable with them and we can play any team at all. Definitely we will carry the day.”

Thirty countries have been split into 15 home-and-away ties with the winners joining hosts, South Africa, who are automatic qualifiers for the Nations Cup.

Next year's finals will mark the last time that the Nations Cup will be held in even-number years since Ethiopia staged the 1968 finals.

The competition switches to uneven-number years from 2013 to avoid every second tournament being staged in the same year as a World Cup.