Ghana coach Claude LeRoy has pledged to take the Black Stars to the World Cup in 2010.

LeRoy’s future in charge of the Black Stars had been questioned by some, after they failed to win the recent Nations Cup on home soil.

But the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has already asked him to stay, and the Frenchman has agreed.

"I think we are building a very good team; there are lots of things to do in the next two years”, he told the BBC.

"We know we didn’t achieve what we wanted to achieve,” the coach said on the BBC’s African sports programme Fast Track.

"But I think the image we left after the Africa Cup of Nations was a beautiful image.
"The quality of the team, the way we were playing, a very strong relationship between the players, myself and my staff - that seems to me the reasons the GFA decides this way.”

He also pointed out that Ghana have leapt up to 14th place in Fifa’s world rankings, on the strength of their performance at the Nations Cup.

LeRoy acknowledged that other coaches in a similar position would have lost their jobs, but pointed out that he has a strong track-record of commitment.  "I spent four years in Cameroon, four years in Senegal - this isn’t the first time I have stayed a long time with a team in Africa,” he said.

LeRoy is currently back home in France, following the Nations Cup.
Ends