Who will advance from Group D

Maruti you are the most stupid and biased guy on this forum. Its unbealiveble how stupid you are, no offence... On paper Serbia have as strong team as Germany, I don't see germans as stronger than Serbs. While Ghana and Austalia quality wise are below the two european countryes.

Look, you lost against Bosnia yesterday, and they didn't even play 100%, they never got out of second gear. You had two shots on goal, terrible. Serbia are much better than Bosnia, you can call Bosnia the little brother of Serbia. Serbia are gonna crush Ghana, if you keep playing like yesterday, and like you did in Angola, Serbia will beat you by 2 or 3 goals... Thats 100% sure...


Both Aussie fans and Ghana fans look to much into the last world cup, but I will remind you that its 4 years ago. A lot happen in just one year in football, not to mention four years. So if you did good 4 years ago, doesn't mean shit now.

Serbia first, Germany second. and the last two spots, I really don't care...

Lol... now who is stupid and biased

Sorry dude, but with such below the belt commentaries I will not honour you with a response. You don't deserve one.

From the sparse actual commentary by scoutreporter I have to deal with the ridiculous premise that 'Serbia have as strong a team as Germany'.

That may be true in one area - the defensive line. But mainly due to Vidic. Apart from Vidic each of Germany's players is better than Dragutinovic, Ivanovic or Lukovic. For god sakes Germany has Friedrich, Mertesacker, Freidrich... players I would always choose ahead of the Serbian three players (ok... I may give Ivanovic a second look)... Heck... having Vidic sort of makes it equal.

In other areas Germany has a way better squad than Serbia. Especially in attack - Serbia have 3 OK strikers: Lazovic, Pantelic and Zigic. Zigic is the most prolific, but 13 goals in one season is hardly top-class. Right now he isn't even starting for Valencia... Pantelic has 8 goals this season in the Dutch league and was far of the top of the best strikers list last season. Lazovic's record at PSV is even less remarkable. Now... are you actually comparing those players to Gomez, Cacau, Klose, Kiessling or even Podolski... heck... Germany's worst striker is better than Zigic. Heck... you were stating how weak Bosnia is in comparison to Serbia, but their strike force is two classes better...

Midfield: Ballack, Oezil, Schweinsteiger (arguably the most underrated midfielder in the world), Trochowski, Hitzlsperger kontra Stankovic, Jankovic, Jovanovic, Krasic, Kuzmanovic, Tosic... no competition... I would prefer the current crappy version of Ballack to any Serbian midfielder (save maybe Stankovic and I would give Krasic a try). And Ballack is the worst midfielder in the German team at the moment...

Really... stating that Serbia has as good a team as Germany is ludicrous. Also - looking at individual players Bosnia has better players than Serbia (at least in the midfield and in the attack) and hence stating that Serbia has a stronger team than Bosnia is baseless...

And you do know that Bosnia played Ghana B with some Ghana A players and some Ghana C players... Also the squad was much weaker and experimental than the one that played at the AFCoN... And that squad was also a second rate Ghana team... For an analogy: Yesterday's Ghana squad was like Serbia playing without Stojkovic, Vidic, Lukovic, Dragutonovic, Ivanovic, Stankovic, Kuzmanovic, Krasic, Tosic, Lazovic and Zigic.

P.S. Don't get me started on comparing the Serbian GKs with the German ones...

Stop saying "you". He is not Ghanaian.... Whilst there are a lot of deluded Ghana fans out there (there are enough on this board), we're not all totally delusional. Whilst Germany and Serbia are clear favourites, it's not a foregone conclusion.

This thread is a joke. Each fan on this thread has grossly overrated their own team or grossly underrated their opponents. It gets quite tiresome reading the same old "we're great, your crap" garbage throughout the thread. But I suppose I'm not forced to read it, so I might as well ---->.

Ghana's line up yesterday :

Agyei

R. Ayew
Addo
L. Addy
D. Addy

Annan
Badu
Muntari
K. Asamoah
Tagoe

Amoah

6 regulars, 3 fringe players and 2 newbies. Decent enough for a friendly. Whilst I can't say with great authority, I expect that the Bosnia XI was less than 100% as well.

Germany and Australia 100%

The only outside chance is Ghana

I wouldn't say Serbia is way better than Bosnia. Bosnias strikeforce is way better than Serbias, and midfielders like Misimovic and Salihovic would likeley start for Serbia as well. Serbia is only really better in defence. As for Serbia's performance yesterday, it was efficient, but the scoreline is completely flattering. Algeria was actually the better side for much of the game but missed many chances, whereas Serbia created very little but scored due to Algerias poor defensive mistakes. I will say Serbia is very organized but I wouldn't get to overconfident because Algeria is known for capitulating, they've lost 3-0 and 4-0 to Egypt and Malawi respectively just last month.

As far as Ghana's performance, it was poor but there were no starters in defence or goalie. They had no more than 4 starters, and one got injured 20 minutes into the match. Considering all this and the fact that they were away to a full strength Bosnia team with one of the best strikeforces in the world, I don't think Ghana fans have anything to worry about. Actually they just have to worry about injuries and that's it. This group is still wide open.

To be straight the first XI had 3 regular starters (Annan, Muntari, Asamoah), 5 regular reserve players (Badu, RAyew, Amoah, Addo, Lee Addy) and 3 fringe players (Tagoe, David Addy, Agyei). So like I said it was Ghana B with some Ghana A and Ghana C players. Plus one starter got injured early in the match (Asamoah) and was replaced by a fringe player (Derek Boateng). If Ghana was full strength only Annan and Muntari would be guaranteed a place with Kwadwo Asamoah a likely starter.

BTW: Compare Ghana and Serbia at full strength player by player. Lets say 4-4-2 formation (albeit Rajevac plays 4-5-1):
Kingson < Stojkovic (0-1)
Paintsil > Ivanovic (1-1)
Mensah < Vidic (but solely due to Mensah's injury history) (1-2)
Vorsah = Dragutonovic
Sarpei < Lukovic (1-3)
Essien > Stankovic (2-3)
Asamoah > Kuzmanovic (3-3)
Muntari > Jovanovic (4-3)
Kingston/Owusu Abeyie = Krasic
Gyan > Zigic (5-3)
Amoah = Pantelic

So comparing the squads in the above manner actually gives Ghana the edge as far as players are concerned... I don't think you can really have any doubts about the above comparison (nothing controversial there unless you live in an alternate reality, where i.e. Essien is not a better midfielder than Stankovic)...

Whether you like it or not, Addo and Amoah are regulars, although they may have played their way out of the starting XI after CAN '10. Tagoe was a regular before all the BS with the Hoffenheim medical and you know that. So, 6 regulars (although Addo & Amoah have potentially lost their places).

When Tagoe has been fit, Milo has always picked him. Either way, the starting XI is far from fixed and Tagoe, Gyan and Amoah have all seen plenty of game time when fit under Milo (with Amoah getting the most).

Vorsah has only just taken Addo's place.

The bottom line is that it was far from a reserve lineup.

When was the last time that Ghana fielded its strongest XI in a match? It simply doesn't happen, because injuries are part of the game. Black Stars players have been getting injured for so long it can no longer be an excuse.

CAN '06 : Gyan, Muntari & Essien injured, Appiah played with bandages.

WC '06 : Laryea Kingston suspended, Amoah played with an injury.

CAN '08 : Appiah out injured.

CAN '10 : Appiah, Essien, Kingston, Mensah & Paintsil injured, Muntari dropped.


Every tournament there's an excuse.... Blah blah blah. That's why you're supposed to have a squad (duh!).

Every other country deals with them, why should Ghana be a special case?

Amoah and Addo were NOT regulars at the CAN, so THEY ARE NOT REGULARS AFTER IT!

Sorry, but Tagoe was not a regular. He has had 9 matches for the national team with 1 of those as a substitute (out of a possible 25 or so), so saying he is a regular is ridiculous. Last year he played 2 matches out of a possible 11... and he was not INJURED FOR MOST OF THEM.

Yep. But its permanent, as we could see at the CAN. Hence Vorsah is the first team, Addo is a benchwarmer.

Bottom line is it was a reserve lineup, because it was the subsititutes playing, not the first team.
FIRST TEAM IS: Kingson - Sarpei, Paintsil/Inkoom, Vorsah, Mensah, Essien, Annan, Kwadwo Asamoah, Muntari, Kingston (or Owusu Abeyie), Gyan.
Of those only Annan, Muntari and Asamoah started the game. Addo and Amoah are not first XI material since the first game of the AFCoN. The rest are regular SUBSTITUTES.

Now: THIS IS THE REAL ISSUE. And the real problem. And Ghana has been just so much more injury prone than any other national team I know. That is why we can really state Ghana's real power only at the WC, when we actually know who is fit to play and who isn't.

Boss, they were regulars before the CAN. They played themselves out of the 1st XI during it.

As for Tagoe, you have no idea what you are talking about.

Competitive minutes over the last 2 years (including the CAN, which Tagoe missed!) for BS strikers :

Amoah : 793

Tagoe : 627

Gyan : 561

Agogo : 436

Bekoe : 73

Note that Tagoe played 8 out of the first 10 qualifiers before the whole medical issue came about.

I know that those kind of comparisons are always very subjective and debatable but who is that Gyan that is supposed to be better than Zigic? Please don´t tell me it´s that guy that plays for Stade Rennes in France?

Stop lying. He has played in 8 qualifiers, 4 friendlies and also the ANC in 2006.

Last year Tagoe played against Egypt, Benin, Mali & Sudan. All the games that Ghana played before his medical problem at Hoffenheim. He played 5 of the 6 games in the previous group stage, so how the hell was he not a regular??

You're clearly a WUM.

Others may not know, but you can't BS a BS fan on the BS (apologies, I'll get my coat )

Which just shows how fringe they were as far as the first team was concerned. They were the weakest links in the Ghana side and the first opportunity Rajevac had they were dropped. Nonetheless your argument is pointless because they are no longer FIRST TEAM players. Duh... At the moment Lee Addy is more of a first team player than Eric Addo is....

I concede on Tagoe. (BTW I actually like the guy).

Irregardless. He is not first team since at least six months. He may reimpose himself, but he is at the moment behind Kingston, Owusu-Abeyie, Gyan and Amoah in the pecking order.

All in all the most important is WHO IS THE BACKBONE OF THE TEAM. The backbone is Kingson, Mensah, Paintsil, Essien, Muntari, Gyan (and Kingston and Appiah when fit) + plus to some extent Kwadwo Asamoah. Of those players only Muntari and Asamoah featured in the first 11, Asamoah went off injured after 20 minutes, whilst Gyan came on in the second half.

Yes, he is. I understand you may not rank him, but he is a starter regularly scoring goals, while Zigic is benchwarming.

Now please tell me the last time this "backbone" started a match together. By your own logic, they are no longer the backbone but "may reimpose themselves" as per your Tagoe logic.

The thing is, they're not the backbone, more of a glass skeleton. With the exception of Richard K and Paintsil (who is currently injured), the others have all had terrible luck with injuries over the last few years.

just2nang I understand you are probably trying to be hard on your team, but the truth is this squad is VERY FAR from a first 11, I don't know why you are trying to argue the contrary. Tagoe is not a starter and never was, he only played so many games because Gyan and Amoah were both injured very often. I would say even Adiyah and Quincy would be ahead of him. If all players are available Ghana at the WC will look something like this.

*********************** Gyan*********************

Muntari*****************Asamoah K*************Quincy

****************Essien*********Annan***************


Sarpei***********Vorsah*********Mensah**********Paintsil/Inkoom

***********************Kingson**********************

THAT IS 3 STARTERS WHO STARTED THE BOSNIA MATCH, 1 WAS INJURED 20 MINUTES IN, WHILE ONE WAS SUBSTITED IN AT HALF TIME. NOT TO MENTION THE ENTIRE DEFENCE AND GOALIE WAS EXPERIMENTAL.

Painstil better than Ivanovic? That's absolutely ridiculous! What makes it even more hilarious was that 4 months ago, you agreed with me that Painstil was an average player, and now he's better than the best rightback in the premier league? What a joke, absolute delusion. I wonder what excuse you will come up with if Australia beats you at the world cup?

Sagna is the best right back in the premiership. Ivanovic is even second best to Bosingwa in Chelsea and is only playing since the Portuguese player has been injured since October... Now who is delusional... Ivanovic is playing well at the moment, but he is a good player, not great. Paintsil is better. I don't remember what I said or how I said it, but Paintsil is one of the best right back in the UK. Definitely not the best, but he is a real fighter.

I understand you are a Chelsea fan, but c'mon...

Having watched every single second of IVanovic since he joined Chelsea both in the reserves and in the first team i can comfortably say he is a BETTER player than Bosingwa. When Bosingwa returns from injury he will need Ivanovic to move to central defence(which is inevitable because of Carvalho's recent injury) to get a run on.

Paintsil? Geeeeeeeeez an average premier league player at best, suited for a midtable club and will never taste champions league football in his career. He is not and never will be in the same class as Ivanovic.

It's obvious that you overrate African players, Ghanian players especially

Yeah honestly Germany will almost certainly take 1st and then it's a bare-knuckle fight for 2nd where Serbia probably have the edge. Anyone claiming this is walk in the park for any of the four teams is deluded, this is the most balanced group of the comp by far.

Lol. Bosingwa is much better than Ivanovic. And I say that as a Chelsea fan, who watches every CHelsea game. Ivanovic can sometimes have a great game, but can also be extremely suspect at times (most goals fall through on his side). He is a decent RB, but I am still really having a laugh with the best RB in the Premiership comment... Johnson and Sagna would really find that comment surprising.

He is better than Ivanovic at the moment. Also he is/was having an exceptional influential season this year. Naturally Ivanovic has more perspectives due to age, but Premiership commentators were often commenting on how great a season Paintsil has been having.

I never stated that Paintsil was a top defender, but at the moment he is definitely on top of Ivanovic.

It's even more obvious you overrate Chelsea players. Ivanovic especially... best RB in the Premiership lol