All eyes will be on coaches Sellas Tetteh and Akhmad Ubaydullaev going into this game to see how well they have prepared their squads for this opening match.

Tetteh led his side to a fourth place finish at the FIFA U-17 World Cup Korea 2007, while Ubaydullaev was named as the Coach of the Year by his country’s Sport newspaper following Uzbekistan’s qualification.

The game
Ghana-Uzbekistan, Ismailia, Saturday 26 September, 18:45 (local time)

The stakes
With Ghana the favourites to top Group D, they will be looking for a convincing win to start their Egypt 2009 campaign. Indeed, over four tournaments, the Africans are unbeaten in FIFA U-20 World Cup group matches, winning seven and drawing five. On the other hand, Uzbekistan are seeking their first point in this competition, as they lost all three games at their last appearance back in 2003.

The stat
6 - Uzbekistan are the sixth different team that Ghana have faced in six matches against Asian opposition at the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The Black Satellites have played China PR, United Arab Emirates and Japan in 1997, Kazakhstan in 1999 and Iran in 2001 and are yet to experience a defeat. Their record stands at four victories and one draw, which came against China PR.

The words
"David Addy and Andre Ayew joined up with the squad on Wednesday afternoon, so we are complete. I’m looking forward to getting out on the training pitch and working with the boys for the first game against Uzbekistan. I’m confident that we will gel quickly," Sellas Tetteh, Ghana coach.

"Our goal is to get past the group stage and over the past year the team have developed tactically, technically, physically and mentally. It will be a tough game against Uruguay," Akhmad Ubaydullaev, Uzbekistan coach.