World Cup 2014 - Group G: Preview & Analysis

They are way too optimistic, not with a defender like John Boye, he's a liability. Ironically, I think that the US played a worst match than in 2010, but end up winning this time. The only glimmer of hope they have is that the first and only time, they faced such situation (losing their opening match to Italy in 2006) they ended up qualifying.

 

I read the same websites as you and you nitpicked the most ecstatic fanposts. There is much more doom and gloom then you would think based on the above quotes

I believe Portugal are beatable, especially with their injuries and one day less rest time. Whether or not Ghana can do anything vs Germany is a whole matter entirely. Ghana went toe to toe with Germany in 2010 with a weaker squad (albeit better backline). Germany may have improved, but its almost a tradition for Germany to clobber opponents in the first game and then struggle in the second. We'll see... if Ghana want to exit the group they need to get a big result. Germany have lost to African teams before and historically have struggled at tournaments or even friendlies against the strongest African sides, so we'll see...

Appiah needs to revert back to a packed midfield line - 4-4-2 is no good. There have to be five midfielders - all with very good ball winning skills. Germany will likely play to Ghana's strengths - counterattacking. Also the newcomers need to be phased in, not given a start out of a blue... That said Appiah has no choice but to experiment a bit... my key experiments would be playing Wakaso as a left back and starting Adams as GK.

My line-up would be:

-----------------Adams------------------
--------Mensah--------Boye------------
-Afful--------------------------Wakaso-
------------Rabiu----Essien------------
-Ayew-------Boateng-------Asamoah-
----------------Gyan-------------------

Nothing can really be done with the center duo... noone to replace with... unless you move Rabiu to CB and play Acquah as the DM? The centerbacks need height. And Ghana has little selection in that department.

Wakaso is needed in the team as an expert freekick taker. Just think if all those corners had been delivered by some who really knows what he's doing? It is a big risk, as he's never played left back for Ghana and he's been poor lately in a Ghana tshirt, but he was key to Ghana's game in the 2013 African Cup of Nations and adds a whole new tactical dimension to the team, when he delivers.

Afful is the most reliable fullback there is. Adams has to be trusted - I know its a big game, but Kwarasey and Dauda don't look up to the job. Instead of Muntari maybe Badu or Essien - the midfield has to be tenacious and a constant thorn. Also Wakaso like Muntari is a card magnet - playing both of them at a time might be risky.

 

Agreed, but the majority of posts aren't like that. Most of them are doom and gloom or level-headed:
"sorry but ghana is going nowhere but accra bro. it will take a miracle."

"It's football bro....anything can happen. Have some fun while it lasts....don't get down."

"Eight years ago, we lost to Italy and nobody gave us a chance against The Czech Republic. Yet we beat them and went to the KO round. Again, a goal was scored by a Samuel Osei Kuffour back pass error. If we play like we did, and with a little luck, Germany is beatable!"

"We need to be positive but also the reality is that we have one foot out of the world Cup."

"we might as well start warm up the engine of our plane. WE DIE FINISH"

and so on...

I for one know Ghana lost, but can't really say anything bad about Ghana's display. Almost any other group and they would be one of the favorites. The quality in the group and the drop in quality in group F is ridiculous...

 

The most important question is : will Thomas Müller play against Ghana ? The way he was holding his face and fell to the ground looked like somebody just gouged his eyes, or maybe it was afractured skull ?

 

A very exclusive sight on what happened. I expect you are an expert!

 

last WC the Germany and Ghana game was dead even. Germany's defence is not all that great either. Style wise I think Ghana matches up better against Germay than Portugal does. Portugal was easy for them, just mark out Ronaldo, and they were finished. There is nobody to mark out against Ghana. Ghana is a better TEAM, than Portugal, people do not want to admit this but they are. Ghana can certainly get a result but they will have to be at their very best. Germany will give Ghana much more space than US did. Best form of defence is attack and possession. I believe Ghana can easily boss possession against the German side I witnessed.

 

Maybe not boss... but definitely go toe to toe. That said Appiah would have to drop his 4-4-2 experiment and revert back to a five man midfield from the Serbian coaching times. If he doesn't I think I'll have to lose my respect to Appiah... maybe a technical advisor in Rajevac wasn't such a bad idea after all?

The problem remains the backline - the ease with which USA found space on the right side was worrying. Conversely they barely had any luck on the right side, but that because Asamoah and Ayew were both manned there and they totally outplayed their oposition. Atsu was however of little help to Opare. We need Asamoah and Ayew on both wings helping out defensively. Just like they did in 2010. Else we are done.

 

I, for one, wasn't sold on the USA as much as others. I really thought they need a true winger on the left. If Jermaine Jones plays the way he did, he could easily play Beckerman's role.

Thought this was a pretty good analysis:
http://insidethefilmroom.com/usa-ghana-world-cup-2014/

 

Opare was the worst Ghanain player by far. He was terrible, and he needs to be replaced for the remaining 2 matches. It was shocking how bad he was. He may be OK going forward, but he is certainly not a defender.

 

Problem is that if we play Afful at RB, then Asamoah is stuck at LB. I would like to try Wakaso there, but it would be a live experiment. Possibly Wakaso at LW and Asamoah at LB? Asamoah could go forward more often knowing Wakaso would cover for him. They could also swap positions if need be.

That or we play Inkoom, who didn't look convincing in buildup games vs Holland and South Korea (that said he had a few superb crosses and great long balls from the back). Or we play Essien at RB, Asamoah at LB for good measure and start the game with 7 midfielders

 

I think keeping Asamoah at LB may have to be done considering you guys will be going up against much better attacks in the next 2 matches. He can still get forward from that position. Opare needs to be replaced. Afful at RB and Asamoah at LB. There are plenty of midfield options, Wakasso possibly. KPB needs to start and yes Ghana need to go back to a 5 man midfield with one striker up top, or else Germany will get too much room. Ghana should stick to their strengths not play 442.

 

I was wondering about going 3-5-2, but Ghana just doesn't have 3 defenders worthy of playing there... Asamoah and Ayew would likely flourish though...

I agree Asamoah unfortunately has to be sacrificed at LB, if Afful is to play RB. Opare's display was terrible... he must have been not fully fit, because I've never seen him this bad (save for a certain Brasil - Ghana friendly )

Wakaso could be the gamechanger or he could be a massive flop.

 

Fabio coentrão is out of the world cup

 

Sad. Was looking forward to seeing a full strength side.

 

F**k.....the one who should sit down for good is Pepe. The retard.

André Almeida can play several positions where he can perform way better but not LB. The first game against Germany we played a 451 to attack in 433. That was a mistake, clearly. Miguel Veloso has pass quality but we couldn't play against Germany with direct game but instead a close team with short and certain pass exchange. For that we should have played in 442 sitting down Veloso and putting William that is completely unknown and such an amazing MD. The wingers should be Nani and Varela and the forwards should be Eder and Ronaldo as a '9'.

This way the team would be more cohesive and the coach, instead of taking Cristiano Ronaldo's defense responsibilities, should make him sweat the jersey in the first line pressure. I've already seen my team playing like it should not long ago and if the coach takes his head out of his bum...we can be great.

So taking into account the injured and that Retard, the lineup against US should be, in my opinion, the following:

GK: Eduardo
RB: André Almeida or João Pereira (both similarly... just OK lol)
CB: Neto (the coach will put Ricardo, though) and Bruno Alves
LB: Veloso (since we have no one left now - poor selection by Paulo Bento, regarding the 23 players)
MD: William
M: Moutinho
RW: Varela or Rubem Amorim (depending on the other team and the style that the coach wants in the game. Varela is a winger and Ruben is a interior right midfielder)
LW: Nani (giving him some freedom to swap with Ronaldo in the game)
F: Ronaldo (not point firward but a fake one, switching sometimes with Nani)
F: Eder (the reference player in the attack)

Now, this would be wonderful...if they put some balls in the sack.

I cannot identify myself with the lack of attitude... I simply cannot. We are not like these dipshits.

Pardon my French but I'm upset

Edit: on wait...this is if I had a saying lol. Paulo Bento is an ass so he will continue to pit the team down. We already kow him for the national league and he always gets upset with key players and sits them down forever (and I mean forever). We have Bosingwa, Antunes, Ricardo Carvalho and Dany. And they are really missed, especially in defense. My god, just by writing this I'm getting anxious and raging little by little lol

 

That was the worst game the US team has played in a long time and they still did what they needed to do to get 3 points. Pretty incredible, really.

They may well lose the next game, but they are just as likely to take points away from it, possibly even 3 points.

The US team regularly takes points from Mexico, who I would compare favorably against Portugal.

 

Did the same thing at Schalke.

 

I used to think that Germany and Portugal (in this order) would have the best chances of making it out of this group. Now I'm not so sure. Portugal is seriously lagging behind, they'll have to do really well in the next two matches to make up for it and get ahead. The Portuguese struggles with serious morale issues sometimes and the fact that this was such a big difference in scores doesn't help. There have been times when they've practically given up (look at how the team started playing once they took that first goal from Germany) but in cups like the Euro 2004 the team lost its first game too but ended up going to the final. I guess how they'll perform depends on their mood that day.

Where Germany is concerned, I don't have a lot of doubts. It looks very likely that one of the top spots will go to Germany, the question is which team will get the other one.

I think that the US are very underrated... I wouldn't rank them as one of the world's best teams but they've done pretty decently in the past, especially compared to how much people assume they aren't worth a thing. I think they probably don't have much of a chance against Germany but against Portugal, it's hard to say.

Ghana is probably quite underrated as well, they could be a big surprise. If they were so much than the US, they wouldn't have lost with such a small difference against them.

Yeah, I thought this was one of the big issues in the game. The team was leaving huge gaps and just following the ball en masse, so whenever Germany got through to their side of the field they struggled to keep up. Another issue was definitely relying too much on Cristiano Ronaldo. The impression I got was that other players were even almost hesitant to do anything with the ball even when they were in a better position than he was. At one point he practically had a line of Germans against him and one of his team mates passed him the ball anyway. That makes absolutely no sense, to me at least.

 

I wouldn't write off Portugal. They just had everything going against them against Germany: A bad game plan, an idiot Pepe, some bad luck and a German team that gelled well and was prepared to expose Portugal's weaknesses.

There is of course the psychological effect of a 4-0 thrashing now and even worse the loss of three key players in Pepe, Coentrao and Almeida. Still, there's a lot of talent and ability in this Portuguese team and I still do have them as slight favorites to exit the group. Though if the US manage to get a point against Portugal, the 4-0 result could come back to haunt them.

What Portugal has going for them is that they're still the best team on paper compared to Ghana or the US and they only have to fulfill that promise, plus they have Ronaldo who can make the difference on his day. But they're under pressure now and need to win their remaining two games, no more slip-ups allowed.

What the US has going for them is that they only need to win one of their remaining two games to secure their advance and even a draw might suffice. The problem is that they have to do so against Portugal and/or Germany.

Ghana seems to be in a tough spot, but even they could still manage to get through. For instance, I could easily see a scenario in which Portugal, the US and Ghana all end up with 3 points. In that case, goal difference would be the tie breaker and Ghana wouldn't be in the worst position for that after losing their first game by only one goal. But I also wouldn't put it beyond Ghana to get a result vs. Germany.

In other words, the fight is still wide open.

Here's my unscientific gut feeling regarding the chances of the various teams to advance after match day 1:

Germany 85%
Portugal 45%
USA 40%
Ghana 30%

 

With Coentrao and Pepe out I do not agree they do not have the best team on paper. They have three above average players in Ronaldo and Moutinho, while William is a benchwarmer. A player like Eder wouldn't even make the final 23 for Ghana or USA, while Veloso and Meirelles are worse than the worst Ghanaian midfielder, but they started for Portugal. Granted they still have a strong defence, but the Portuguese hype remains pretty absurd.

I agree its far from over and Portugal needs to bounce back vs USA. I have the feeling they were so focused on the first match and it took such a toll on them physically they may struggle vs Portugal. Portugal must win the next game and if that happens the group is wide open regardless of the Ghana - Germany match.

 

Ghana probably has a higher number of quality players, but Portugal may still be more balanced. I think you are underrating Nani and Pereira a little bit. The real issue is the striker position and the absence of Coentrão, who made that left side dangerous. Portugal will really struggle to create chances. The real strength of this team in past tournaments has been defensive cohesion and a strong counter, not sheer talent nor Ronaldo, who underperformed in many games. Without this cohesion, this team is not half of what it was in 2012, for instance. Of course, people will come out and say "Portugal the one man team, but that one man did nothing against Germany", while several German users here pointed to the obvious fact that Portugal made the stupid mistake of playing an open game with an overwhelmingly better midfield. And the team didn't correct that even after Pepe was sent off. Bento just showed that he is not a good coach in terms of reacting to adversities.

 

I noticed that too, to my surprise. It seems that whatever they spit out to the press about being more than Ronaldo and what they showcased against Ireland, seems to be bs when big games come up. They self-convinced themselves that all offensive plays must end at Ronaldo. That is very worrisome to watch. And worst of all, the quasi-confirmation that Bento is an inept coach.

While I don't blame him for trying to take the game to Germany, he never really changed the strategy throughout the first half. And instead of bringing in R. Costa or Neto when Pepe was sent off, he made Meireles partner B. Alves in the defense. And André Almeida as our 2nd LB is obviously a retarded decision of his that we have to live with. Or M. Veloso playing instead of William Carvalho, etc.

Matter of the fact is that getting morale back up might not be enough and that's what I am scared of. If the team keeps believing that only Ronaldo can be decisive and Bento keeps being retarded then I wouldn't be surprised with a bad result against the US. Even if we make it out of the group stages I think that's far as we'll go, unless Bento changes something about himself and the team's mindset.

 

I'm not an expert on Portugal, but I also thought that the loss of Coentrao was the biggest hit for this Portuguese team.

As for defensive cohesion, that was really missing vs. Germany. I think Portugal played too high a back line, which was ideal for the flexible German front line. Had Portugal played more defensive as in 2012, I think it would have been a very different game.

Looking forward however, Portugal is under pressure now, so they can't just sit back. They need to win both games. So they might play from a secure defensive position for one half, but if the US/Ghana can cope for that half, Portugal will have to become more offensive, which in return would increase the chance of counter attacks.

 

Portugal has to be a possession team, but since Deco left in 2008 we abandoned the traditional 4-2-3-1 and opted for a 4-3-3, with an inverted triangle led by transitional midfielders Moutinho and Meireles. The only player in the squad that may perform the number 10 role is Rafa, but he is too young.