Newcastle United winger Christian Atsu is refusing to underrate lowly rated Ghana group opponent Uganda ahead of the start of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

Atsu insists the Cranes have earned the rights to be respected and they will pose a threat to any team they come up against in the tournament.

“Uganda Cranes are not an underdog any more. They have played against all those teams in the group but we are not scared of them but they have a very good defensive set up which could worry us.

“They have a very good team both offensively and defensively”.

“The Cranes qualified on merit therefore the players are working hard to get to the AFCON and are prepared to compete rather than participating’’

The Black Stars began their preparations with first training session last Wednesday but Atsu who is yet to be released by Newcastle was absent.

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