The Black stars of Ghana begin their Group D opener against first timers the Zebras Botswana in the AFCON 2012 at Stade de Franceville in Gabon. The world cup quarter finalists are highly tipped to thrash the Zebras by higher margin. The Stars who are touted as one of the favorites to win the ultimate in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea rounded up their preparations in Rustenburg, South Africa with two warm up games. Coach Goran Plavi Stevanovic has a blend of experienced and young players and is hopeful Ghana will lift this title for a fifth time. Team Ghana has enjoyed both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation from sitting government and fans of the team believe they have no cause to embellish their pedigree. "We were third in CAN 2008, second in Angola 2010 then this time it is “gold” for the team, after being eluded for the past thirty years. Coming up against a relatively unknown side in the tournament there is a need to whitewash them, if not, then we should forget about the cup". Fans told Asempa fm's sports morning show host. Ghana play Mali and Guinea in their subsequent games in Group D