Ayew plays down title talk

Ghana winger, Andre Ayew, has dflected the pressure of 2015 Africa Cup of Nations favourites off his country's team.

The Olympique Marseille man stated that "I wouldn't say we are here to win the trophy."

But Ayew would not rule out their chances as he wants to see the Black Stars take the tournament "one game at a time."

Interestingly Ghana won their last African title in 1982, seven years before the striker was born.

The 25-year-old recalled how Ghana reached the showpiece game in the 2010 edition when they lost to Egypt in Luanda, Angola.

Ayew believes that Ghana also ruffled feathers five years ago in Angola but admits that "the situation is different" now after featuring at the 2014 Fifa World Cup which also had an off-pitch incident that hogged the headlines.

"We have lots of young players and I wouldn't say we are here to win the trophy. We'll go one game at a time. In 2010 we got to the final not long after winning the Fifa Under-20 World Cup, we went into the tournament full of confidence," Ayew told the media in Mongomo on Sunday.

"We did some good things on the pitch and caused problems for the eventual world champions. Of course there were things that happened off the field, but that is behind us now. We have come through the qualifiers since then and I congratulate all the players for the way they have applied themselves.

"The situation is different to when we were in Brazil. We have changed coach several times in the last six months, but we are all professionals and we need to be able to adapt to the situation."

Ghana are now managed by former Chelsea boss, Avram Grant and Ayew is of the view that the Israeli's "experience" will come good for the Black Stars, who are drawn in a tough Group C along Algeria, South Africa and Senegal.

"Today we have a great coach who has worked at big clubs and has lots of experience, so I am happy because he can bring us a lot," he said.

Ghana's Black Stars begin their Afcon campaign against Senegal in Mongomo on Monday.