Ghana midfielder Sulley Muntari is still at a loss to understand England's 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ campaign.

Muntari and his team-mates came within a whisker of becoming the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of the tournament when they were denied by Uruguay. But by that point, Fabio Capello and his players were already heading home after their loss to Germany in the previous round.

Ghana will get a chance to test themselves against a team Muntari believes is still one of the best in the world when Ghana meet England at Wembley on Tuesday, and their results last summer remains a mystery to him.

"England are one of the top nations and they play very good football," said Muntari. "They have great players. Everything about England is great and it was shocking that they didn't perform well in the last [FIFA] World Cup.

"I still can't believe it because I didn't think England were going to go out like that. I can't describe it. I can't say they played bad football, they were just unlucky at certain times. Everyone expects big things from them and they had all the possibilities to do it, but they couldn't do it.

"It's part of football, it's part of nature. Maybe next year is going to be theirs, the next two or three years they are going to win everything and they are going to be at the top. They will become heroes again. Everyone has his time."

We want to win, we want to play good football - that's the most important thing. We want to entertain the fans.
Sulley Muntari, Ghana midfielder

The whole of Africa hoped their continent's time had come when Ghana threatened to sail into unchartered waters, but fell sort in extra time to Uruguay after Asamoah Gyan missed a penalty.

"We have done well in the past two World Cups, and not only Ghana," said Muntari. "Now Africa is growing faster because we have a lot of great players who are playing for top clubs in Europe.

"We are getting there and in a few years time, African football is going to be top."

England have never lost to an African side, though, they have never before met Ghana. Muntari, who has spent the last week nursing a calf injury he picked up in the Liverpool game, said: "We have been looking forward to this game for a long time - even the Ghanaian people have been looking forward to us playing England for a long time.

"It's coming true, so we are very happy about it and we are just looking forward to the day."

English football is hugely popular in Ghana, where television coverage of the Premier League means that Capello's players are household names. Strong Ghanaian representation, with Chelsea's Michael Essien the leading light, has added to that, and Muntari, Gyan and John Mensah have brought Sunderland in particular a whole new distant following.

Gyan has spent the last few weeks warning his English team-mates what to expect from him and his compatriots, and Muntari admits the striker will take some stick if Ghana lose.

"Asa is the crazy one," Muntari said. "I will be okay because I joke less with them, but Asa, they are going to bury him. We want to win, we want to play good football - that's the most important thing. We want to entertain the fans."