Ghana’s Black Stars eased into the finals of the World Cup in South Africa after beating the Desert Hawks of Sudan by 2:0. The Stars thus become the first African country, apart from host South Africa to qualify for South Africa 2010 with two more games to spare. The Black Stars, playing rather comfortably in front of a capacity crowd at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra, also have Benin to thank for the early qualification as the Squirrels held would be contenders, Mali, to a one-all game in Cotonou. At the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium, a blistering Michael Essien strike in the second half sealed a Sulley Muntari opener to clip the wings of the Desert Hawks, who played without much fire power and appeared to have given up the game before Egyptian referee Essam Abd El Fatah called the match into play. The Stars now open a seven point lead ahead of the two matches, sealing a second successive qualification for the World Cup. Deploying a 4-4-1-1 formation with returnee skipper, Stephen Appiah playing just behind striker Mathew Amoah, the Stars dominated play for most part of the game and left the Sudanese chasing their shadows. Right from the blast of Essam Abd El Fatah's whistle the Stars pounded the goal area of the Sudanese, with Skipper Stephen Appiah stretching to his elastic limit in a belated attempt to connect a deep cross from Sulley Muntari. Essien who latched onto a feeble back pass, should have put the stars ahead, but after beating the last of the Sudanese defenders, he shot straight at the approaching goalkeeper. The Stars clearly dictated the pace with deft touches and superb runs on the right by Samuel Inkoom but failed to create any clear goal scoring opportunity. Sulley Ali Muntari in the 15th minute latched onto a Stephen Appiah pass and blasted the ball beyond the Sudan goalkeeper for the Stars opener. The Sudanese barely threatened the Stars goal, and that was understandable. They had packed men in defence looking to get back home with a respectable defeat. Stephen Appiah then struck yet another thunderbolt of a shot in the 35th minute but went direct into the arms of the Sudanese goalkeeper. The Stars played to the gallery with some neat touches, flashes of individual brilliance from Essien, Appiah, Inkoom and Muntari but the resilient Sudan rear guard thwarted their efforts at another goal. Michael Essien on the stroke of half time had a second goal ruled out for offside after he connected a Sulley Muntari free-kick, reminiscent of the goal he (Essien) scored against Morocco in the 2008 Nation’s Cup in Accra. The Sudanese started the second half pretty much the same way they ended the first, sitting back to soaking the pressure and trying to catch the Stars on the break. They however had no potent strike force to execute the tactics to perfection. Michael Essien in a typical fashion struck an absolute screamer in the 57th minute from 25 yards which zoomed straight into the net for the Stars' second goal. John Mensah who had virtually been on holiday handed the Sudanese a breather when he gifted a Sudanese striker a golden opportunity, but goalkeeper Richard Kingston parried a well struck, goal-bound shot into play for his defence to clear. The Stars with nothing more to play for slowed down the tempo of the game, teasing the Sudanese with some short passes but never attacked the Sudanese goal.