After a comfortable if unspectacular win over Wales on Saturday England now travel back to London for an international friendly against the Black Stars of Ghana, a nation whose 2010 World Cup campaign couldn't have been more different to that of the English.
An Asamoah Gyan penalty got Ghana off to a winning start against Serbia and it was to be the same again to earn a draw with Australia. Their final group match against Germany at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg was watched by over 83,000 people who saw the Germans come out with a 1-0 victory thanks to one of the tournaments stars in Mesut Ozil. But Ghana went through and with the entirety of the African continent and large parts of the rest of the world behind them the west African side faced up against group C winners the USA.
A bright start for Ghana was rewarded with a Kevin-Prince Boateng strike after just five minutes but in the second half they were pegged back thanks to a Landon Donovan penalty. Ghana started the first half of extra time as they started the first of normal time, Asamoah Gyan thrashing the ball into Tim Howard's net to send Ghana into the last eight, only the third African team to reach that stage but, much like England, their campaign ended in controversy in defeat to Uruguay.
Sulley Muntari's strike in first half stoppage time opened the scoring only for Diego Forlan to equalise. As the game drew to a close a ball into the Uruguay area bounced up for Dominic Adiyiah to head towards goal only for Luis Suarez to punch the ball off of the line, denying a goal that would have made Ghana the first African team to reach the semi finals, but as it was a penalty was given. Gyan, who had already scored two penalties in the tournament, blazed his spot kick against the bar, sending the game to a shoot-out which the Black Stars eventually lost.
It was a heart breaking end to a fairytale run that made the world stand up and take note of the new breed of talent coming out of Ghana, many of the squad members being part of the side that won the 2009 U20 World Cup in Egypt.
The last match for Ghana ttok place on Friday and saw the side come out of Brazzaville with a 3-0 victory over Congo in an African Nations Cup qualifier, Adiyiah, Muntari and Prince Tagoe getting on the scoresheet. Meanwhile England saw off Wales in a game they never looked like losing, a Frank Lampard penalty and a Darren Bent tap in within the first fifteen minutes securing the win.
Since then England have released five players back to their clubs, namely Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and newly re-appointed captain John Terry, meaning Fabio Capello had another decision to make as to who will get the armband for Tuesday's game.
The England manager has hinted at changing 'seven or eight' members of his starting line up for this game meaning that Gareth Barry, who briefly held the captaincy during the friendly win over Denmark, will get the chance to lead his nation out at Wembley.
If Capello were to drastically change his eleven it would be more than a tad harsh on Jack Wilshere and Scott Parker who both put in superb performances against Wales on Saturday, although their club managers would gladly see them rested so they are fit for title and relegation battles respectively.
Tuesday's game will, however, give a chance to Andy Carroll and the other strikers in Capello's squad to make a name for themselves and boost their hopes of taking Wayne Rooney's place in England's next tie, a qualifier with Switzerland in June, Rooney being suspended for collecting the second yellow of his qualifying campaign against Wales. In form Gary Cahill will start with Matt Jarvis of Wolves also likely to feature at some stage during the night.
Ghana have five English based players in their squad, John Mensah, Sulley Muntari and Asamoah Gyan all plying their trade at Sunderland as well as Fulhams John Paintsil and Blackpool stopper Richard Kingson. Gyan was suspended for Ghana's Nations Cup qualifier against Congo on Friday but will be available for the Wembley clash and it seems likely he will start the game. Other names to look out for include Andre Ayew, son of Ghana's record goalscorer Abedi 'Pele' Ayew, Anthony Annan of Schalke and Milan's Dominic Adiyiah, currently on loan at Partizan Belgrade, who scored eight goals in the Ghanaian U20 side's World Cup victory.
The two nations have never met in a full international before but numerous squad members were part of the U20 side that beat England 4-0 at the 2009 World Cup, Dominic Adiyiah netting twice with Andre Ayew also getting on the scoresheet.
Ghana are a highly motivated side who have a great team ethic and ranked at 16 in the world they will be no pushover for an England side that look likely to be inexperienced on the international stage.
You can keep up with key updates from the game on HJBSports Twitter feed and don't forget to check back here for our postgame match report.
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