GHANA coach Avram Grant has described South Africa as a "fantastic team" ahead of tonight's crunch Group C clash of the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Equatorial Guinea.

Grant was full of praise for Shakes Mashaba's men and says his side will be in a real fight for a quarterfinal place.

"Nothing has been decided yet in this group," Grant said.

"Yes, we may have beaten the number one team in Africa [Algeria], but we now face South Africa, who qualified for this tournament ahead of a big team like Nigeria

"They played very well in their first game even though they eventually lost to Algeria. They are a fantastic team."

Grant also tried to portray his Black Stars as a young side full of battlers, rather than the finished article.

"We are a young team who have shown we do not give up and so we will come into any game to win it," the former Chelsea boss said.

Ghana are targeting a first Afcon victory against South Africa as they bid to extend a record of reaching at least the semifinals at each of the last four Afcon finals.

The Black Stars put an opening defeat to Senegal behind them when they beat Algeria, thanks to a late goal from Asamoah Gyan on his return from a bout of malaria.

However, Andre Ayew said: "We are not taking anything for granted. Algeria is behind us and next is South Africa. It will be a very tough battle.

"Expectations back at home must now have risen, but Ghana have always dealt with the pressure."

South Africa have the toughest task of all four contenders and will be without Thulani Hlatshwayo after he suffered concussion in the 1-1 draw with Senegal last time out.

However, young defender Rivaldo Coetzee could return after missing that game due to injury.

"We still have another game to play, so don't write us off just yet. Football has its own miracles. With one game to go, we can still surprise a lot of people," insisted coach Mashaba. - Additional reporting by AFP

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