Former Ghana winger Laryea Kingston believes African teams are not far away from reaching the finals of the FIFA World Cup including the Black Stars.
The five African nations will be heading to Qatar for the global showpiece which is scheduled later this year.
Cameroon, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Senegal will represent CAF in the first ever November/December World Cup.
"For me, I think African teams are not far away from getting close to the World Cup finals because when you look at it, most of the players are playing in Europe."
"They've been friends with most of the European players and Asian players that will come to the tournament, so for me I think African teams are not far away from getting close to the final," Kingston said as quoted by Footballghana.com.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia saw early elimination for Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia who all lost their first two group games.
Nigeria also lost their first group game against Croatia 2-0, but the team got a win in their second game, over Iceland 2-0, leaving them with a chance if they could get a result against 2014 finalists Argentina. However, they lost the decisive game, and were eliminated after finishing third in the group.
The Black Stars have been placed in Group H for the World Cup together with Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea.