Asamoah Gyan sees all three opponents in Group H of 2017 Afcon qualifying as tough.
The Ghana skipper insists Rwanda, Mozambique and Mauritius are no walkovers. His comments come on the back of the draw made on Wednesday.
The reaction in Ghana has been cautious, but the optimism of an almost assured spot has been obvious.
"Now African countries are not the same as they used to be before, if you underrate them, you underrate them at your own peril," the Al Ain forward observes.
"A clear example is what we saw in recent weeks, when Cape Verde defeated Portugal in the intentional friendly game."
With the near-miss of coming second in the last Afcon on his mind, Gyan wants focus on a game by game basis.
"For me there are no minnows in African Football and I believe that if we do that we will be punished in the qualifiers, we will take all of the teams very serious in our qualifiers," Gyan told the Daily Guide newspaper in Ghana.
Ghana last won a Nations Cup in Libya 33 years ago.
