Conspiracies Cloud Clash Between Black Stars and Portugal
Under normal circumstances I would start my preview by looking at where the Black Stars are as a team then I would focus on the importance and implications of the game ahead. However the current climate of controversy is extremely hard to ignore. Talk of conspiracies have already started to dominate the thoughts of everyone connected to our national team. I like many have been taken by this topic, in fact I watched a documentary last night on Channel 4 entitled "How to Fix a Football Match". The exposé centres around two senior members of the GFA and affiliated staff; Christopher Forsythe, a FIFA accredited agent and Obed Nketiah, who sits on the management committee of the Ghana Under-20 team. I think it's fair to say that based on the video evidence its not looking good for those two. If you haven't seen it already I suggest you watch it and make of it what you will.
At this point I genuinely don't think there are many Ghana fans who haven't read or seen comments and articles related to these allegations that question the integrity of some of the men who run (or at least help run) the Ghana Football Association. But what really fascinates me is the timing of this story. Isn't it strange how at a time when Germany and the USA could collude by agreeing to draw their final game, that Ghana's match fixing allegations are being brought into the public domain? The timing from a Ghanaian perspective couldn't be worse.
In case you weren't aware, a draw between Germany and the USA will result in both side qualifying to the next round regardless of the results elsewhere.The fascinating part of all of this is the coaching staff's connection between the USA and Germany. Jurgen Klinsmann, the current USA coach, was in charge of the German national team during the 2006 World Cup with none other than Joachim Loew (the current Germany boss) as his assistant. So we know there is a line of direct communication between them at worst and a strong relationship between them at best. Both managers have obviously denied that there is any conspiracy. But...Put it this way, I won't be at all surprised if the game ends in a draw. However I am hoping that Germany get the win we need.
Ultimately, we only have ourselves to blame for being in this situation. We lost the opening game to the USA and failed to find an improbable win against Germany. In both those matches we had very good chances to either create or score goals and we didn't take enough of them. Another area of concern is our leaky defending of set pieces, particularly corners. We have conceded against both our opponents directly from corner kicks, which suggests that this might be a problem and something to look out for during our final match against Portugal.
I don't want to be too critical of Ghana because there was a definite improvement in the team after the first game. Coach Appiah set the team up very well tactically (and seemingly took some of my advice) which resulted in marked improvement in the quality of the teams play against Germany. I think the players we have at our disposal are more comfortable playing on the break than they are dominating possession further up the pitch based on the evidence of the first two matches of the tournament. And because of that I would prefer we went with a similar tactical set up going into the Portugal match.
That's not to say we should do the exact same thing as we did against Germany. Far from it, the Portuguese have different strengths to the Germans. They are also better when they sit deep and counter. However in their first game I think they made a mistake by playing a high line against Germany and were punished. This may have been due to the fitness issues of their Talisman Cristiano Ronaldo. Playing on the counter means your forwards have to sprint longer distances to have opportunities to score. If your best player who also happens to be your best and fastest athlete AND your most obvious goal threat (which Ronaldo certainly is), isn't 100% fit, then it doesn't make sense to simply drop deep. I think that is the reason Portugal elected to push up the field so he doesn't have to cover as many long distances to goal.
The strength of the Portuguese is on their flanks. Manchester United's Nani and the aforementioned Ronaldo will pose the most threat the Ghanaian back line. Both their goals against the USA were created from wide. Upfront they don't have quite the same quality of player as they do out wide but our central defensive pairing should always be weary and intelligent with their defending. Against Germany our defending of the wide areas of the pitch wasn't the best but I believe that was part of our tactical set up. We knew the Germans would not play with much width, both of the players who play in those positions are really number 10's playing out wide and so affording them space out wide is the lesser of two evils. Not to mention the German full backs prefer to play centre back.
Against Portugal defending the flanks will go along way in stopping the supply line for their attacks. That means we need disciplined performances from our full backs Harrison Afful and Kojo Asamoah. We also need to be compact, which means we move as a solid unit across the pitch to cover the space that causes immediate danger rather than allowing too much space between each player in our team (like distances between defence midfield and attack). Another key difference in the set up will be how the midfield performs. Christian Atsu and Andre Ayew need to cover the runs of the opposition full backs to ease the pressure that our defence will face. Most importantly our central midfield, likely to be Rabiu Mohammed alongside either Agyemang Badu or Michael Essien (if he's fit), will need to spot any danger early and cover spaces that the Portuguese will try to exploit.
I think we should go with a similar line-up to our last game with the exception of Muntari (suspended) who will most likely be replaced by Essien. I think Kevin Prince Boateng should improve with another game under his belt. He's a more natural midfield player than a forward so he should be able to pitch in and help defensively. He wasn't at his best against Germany but hopefully he will have greater impact on the game this time. Our goal threat will be carried by our front three of Atsu, Ayew and our captain Asamoah Gyan. I think they have all the attributes to cause the Portuguese problems and score the goals we need for victory.
Overall I genuinely believe we can win the game, which may well be a battle of who can counter-attack better. I think that Ghana have the better athletes on the pitch (with the obvious exception of Ronaldo, but K. Bonsam has that covered!) and if we are more efficient and clever with how we approach the game particularly in the final third we have have a great opportunity to get the result we need. We must Must MUST be more concentrated on set pieces and avoid sloppy goals. If we are going to concede make sure our opponent does something spectacular to score rather than gifting them goals. The rest will be up to Germany to fulfil their end of the bargain. Anything less than a German victory and we're on the next flight to Kotoka. If you want to understand more about the different permutations for qualification, I wrote a post about it here.
Both games will start at 5pm GMT so I think most of us will be watching the Ghana match and also following the Germany game via whatever means we have available. I wish the Black Stars the best of luck tomorrow. Hopefully I will be writing my next post about our round of 16 opponents. Until next time.
In case you weren't aware, a draw between Germany and the USA will result in both side qualifying to the next round regardless of the results elsewhere.The fascinating part of all of this is the coaching staff's connection between the USA and Germany. Jurgen Klinsmann, the current USA coach, was in charge of the German national team during the 2006 World Cup with none other than Joachim Loew (the current Germany boss) as his assistant. So we know there is a line of direct communication between them at worst and a strong relationship between them at best. Both managers have obviously denied that there is any conspiracy. But...Put it this way, I won't be at all surprised if the game ends in a draw. However I am hoping that Germany get the win we need.
Ultimately, we only have ourselves to blame for being in this situation. We lost the opening game to the USA and failed to find an improbable win against Germany. In both those matches we had very good chances to either create or score goals and we didn't take enough of them. Another area of concern is our leaky defending of set pieces, particularly corners. We have conceded against both our opponents directly from corner kicks, which suggests that this might be a problem and something to look out for during our final match against Portugal.
I don't want to be too critical of Ghana because there was a definite improvement in the team after the first game. Coach Appiah set the team up very well tactically (and seemingly took some of my advice) which resulted in marked improvement in the quality of the teams play against Germany. I think the players we have at our disposal are more comfortable playing on the break than they are dominating possession further up the pitch based on the evidence of the first two matches of the tournament. And because of that I would prefer we went with a similar tactical set up going into the Portugal match.
That's not to say we should do the exact same thing as we did against Germany. Far from it, the Portuguese have different strengths to the Germans. They are also better when they sit deep and counter. However in their first game I think they made a mistake by playing a high line against Germany and were punished. This may have been due to the fitness issues of their Talisman Cristiano Ronaldo. Playing on the counter means your forwards have to sprint longer distances to have opportunities to score. If your best player who also happens to be your best and fastest athlete AND your most obvious goal threat (which Ronaldo certainly is), isn't 100% fit, then it doesn't make sense to simply drop deep. I think that is the reason Portugal elected to push up the field so he doesn't have to cover as many long distances to goal.
The strength of the Portuguese is on their flanks. Manchester United's Nani and the aforementioned Ronaldo will pose the most threat the Ghanaian back line. Both their goals against the USA were created from wide. Upfront they don't have quite the same quality of player as they do out wide but our central defensive pairing should always be weary and intelligent with their defending. Against Germany our defending of the wide areas of the pitch wasn't the best but I believe that was part of our tactical set up. We knew the Germans would not play with much width, both of the players who play in those positions are really number 10's playing out wide and so affording them space out wide is the lesser of two evils. Not to mention the German full backs prefer to play centre back.
Against Portugal defending the flanks will go along way in stopping the supply line for their attacks. That means we need disciplined performances from our full backs Harrison Afful and Kojo Asamoah. We also need to be compact, which means we move as a solid unit across the pitch to cover the space that causes immediate danger rather than allowing too much space between each player in our team (like distances between defence midfield and attack). Another key difference in the set up will be how the midfield performs. Christian Atsu and Andre Ayew need to cover the runs of the opposition full backs to ease the pressure that our defence will face. Most importantly our central midfield, likely to be Rabiu Mohammed alongside either Agyemang Badu or Michael Essien (if he's fit), will need to spot any danger early and cover spaces that the Portuguese will try to exploit.
I think we should go with a similar line-up to our last game with the exception of Muntari (suspended) who will most likely be replaced by Essien. I think Kevin Prince Boateng should improve with another game under his belt. He's a more natural midfield player than a forward so he should be able to pitch in and help defensively. He wasn't at his best against Germany but hopefully he will have greater impact on the game this time. Our goal threat will be carried by our front three of Atsu, Ayew and our captain Asamoah Gyan. I think they have all the attributes to cause the Portuguese problems and score the goals we need for victory.
Overall I genuinely believe we can win the game, which may well be a battle of who can counter-attack better. I think that Ghana have the better athletes on the pitch (with the obvious exception of Ronaldo, but K. Bonsam has that covered!) and if we are more efficient and clever with how we approach the game particularly in the final third we have have a great opportunity to get the result we need. We must Must MUST be more concentrated on set pieces and avoid sloppy goals. If we are going to concede make sure our opponent does something spectacular to score rather than gifting them goals. The rest will be up to Germany to fulfil their end of the bargain. Anything less than a German victory and we're on the next flight to Kotoka. If you want to understand more about the different permutations for qualification, I wrote a post about it here.
Both games will start at 5pm GMT so I think most of us will be watching the Ghana match and also following the Germany game via whatever means we have available. I wish the Black Stars the best of luck tomorrow. Hopefully I will be writing my next post about our round of 16 opponents. Until next time.
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