World Cup 2014 | ||
Ghana |
vs | United States |
ScheduleMonday, 16 June 2014 at 22:00 GMT / 23:00 UK / 03:30 IST VenueEstádio das Dunas (Natal) |
Next Monday, Ghana will measure forces with the USA at Estádio das Dunas in Natal on what will the second match of day for Group G.
After a fairly conclusive 4-0 win against Korea, it will be interesting to see if Ghana will be able to replicate such performance against the USA on their tournament’s opening match. The clash against the US will mark the Black Stars' second consecutive presence at a World Cup, after reaching the quarter-finals back in 2010 at South Africa. The team lead by James Appiah only managed to win one of their last three World Cup preparation matches and although they did not concede many goals, they let some frailties on their defensive line shine through. The Black Stars were defeated by Montenegro at Podgorica early in March and sucumbed to the all-powerful Holland side at Rotterdam on the end of May. On the other hand, Ghana completely controlled their group during the African qualification round, finishing at the top of the group with five wins in six matches and trashing Egypt on the playoff matches by granting a vintage 6-1 home win.
The team’s manager has already tested several different tactical approaches in his team, although it is very likely that he will opt for an easily changeable 4-3-3 style for the match against the US, with Gyan up in the front backed up both by Waris Majeed and Ayew.
For the match against the Northern-American team, James Appiah will probably be able to count on all his players since there aren’t any injured players by now.
As for the USA, the match against Ghana will mark their seventh consecutive presence at a World Cup tournament. The current US team is very different from the one that played at Italy in 1990, led by the skillful footballers Tab Ramos and Eric Wynalda. Jurgen Klinsmann brought some winds of change to the US National Team as he implemented new organizational ideas and, more importantly, he brought in a new 4-4-1-1 tactical style, with Dempsey lurking behind the centre forward, which is proving to be very effective lately.
The US team won their three recent preparation matches, thus managing to extend the very positive campaign they achieved during the qualification round, where they finished at the top of their group.
Jürgen Klinsmann’ boys are favourites to win next Monday’s clash against Ghana since they have been proving that they are a very well balanced team, who might bring some unexpected surprises to the tournament.
Ghana
Stats: W-1 L-2 D-2
Recent Form - WLLDD
USA
Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1
Recent Form - WWWDL
Possible Line-ups
Ghana (4-3-3) - Dauda - Opare - Asamoah - Mensah - Boye - Rabiu - Muntari - Boateng - Ayew - Majeed - Gyan
USA (4-4-1-1) - Howard - Johnson - Cameron - Basler - Beasley - Bradley - Jones - Beckerman - Bedoya - Dempsey - Altidore
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