The Black Stars arrived in Brazil Wednesday night for the FIFA World Cup which commences later today.

The Stars landed in Salvador after their scheduled ten hour trip from Washington, USA. The entire playing body, including the currently injured Abdul Majeed Warris was all on board, as well as the technical team.

The Black Stars, who will be based in Maceio for the group stages, then boarded another flight to the north-eastern Brazilian province where a local government delegation as well as some fans were waiting to welcome the team.

Despite arriving early today, the Stars are all set to hit the ground running with their first training session later in the day, with their opening game against the United States on June 16 foremost in their minds.

Defender Daniel Opare, who picked up a knock during training, should be fit to take part in the full session, as well as Adam Kwarasey.

The return of the Norwegian based goalkeeper means coach Kwesi Appiah would once again be presented with the headache of who to choose as his number one shot stopper.

Adam Kwarasey was in post for the first friendly against the Netherlands, but injury ruled him out of the South Korea game, and Fatau Dauda gave a decent account of himself.

It seems fans would have to wait to find out who gets the nod for the first game on Monday night.

Meanwhile at 15:15 local time (18:15 GMT) at the Arena de Sao Paulo, the opening ceremony of the 2014 FIFA World Cup would commence to kick off the world’s biggest sporting event.

The ceremonial opener to every FIFA World Cup, the opening ceremony is often a grand event and this one, according to artistic director Daphne Cornez “is a tribute to Brazil and its treasures: nature, people, and football”

The ceremony, scheduled to last 25 minutes, would feature performances from several artistes, including a rendition of the official world cup song ‘We are One’ by Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull, and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte.

The ceremony would precede the opening game of the tournament, host nation Brazil against Croatia, kicking off at 20:00 GMT.