Ive seen Ghana play a lil here n there but not enough to know which African teams resembles their playing style. I doubt US would play a "no one" in Africa so it would most likely be one of the famous names above in the poll. I would choose Cameroon since they are the standing best and fastest. I can see S Africa being played, but I think it wouldnt be as wise.
Definitely a team that made the world cup. And definitely NOT Nigeria. I saw them play a friendly at Romania on 11/17 and to say they didn't take it seriously would be the understatement of the year. A couple of days before the game, there were rumors that they may not even be able to get 11 players for the game! There were even Nigerian college students in Romania who offerred to make up the numbers. It turned out that the rumors were totally unfounded - they arrived at the airport 2 hours before gametime with 12 players (including the GK) and 1 assistant coach. Sounds like fiction, doesn't it?! No wonder Nigeria didn't qualify for the WC with such incompetent leadership.
I think Ivory Coast would be a good bet. They will be preparing for the world cup so they will take the match seriously. Cameroon or Nigeria might send B teams. Tunisia are the African champs but their style of play is a little different. South Africa, the team that Ghana beat to the world cup might not be a bad bet because they are preparing to host the next world cup and need to start building a team but they're not "west African" so I would still go with Ivory Coast.
i also think we should find a team in the world cup so that they take the match seriously and send their best players... also players heading to the world cup will be less likely to let the game get chippy and commit angry fouls. we need to get some experience and keep our guys healthy... my picks: ivory coast or tunisia... do either of them have style of play similar to ghana??
Ghana's been heralded as playing the best passing, itricate touches, bamboozling style of attack. So Ghana would be a team to play when preparing for Brazil or Argentina. So other than the Cameroon, (who I'd want because I want to see Eto'o) but probably Holland would be a good test IF we could get them to use a lineup MORE attacking than normal.
holland seems like an inspired choice. i'm a little worried that we won't really get much real preparation from our friendlies with canada and japan. i mean how good are those teams? i wish we could schedule more tough african and european teams...
Ivory Coast in April in Denver, Colorado. I think we still have the good mojo from beating Mexico pre world cup. Ohhh and get Mathis in the damn camp.
I think Ivory Coast would be a good match, but I think it would be better to play an African nation in Europe. African teams do not have the money to get their good players to the US , so if we played them in Europe , there is a World Cup atmosphere, and there is a better chance of the opponent fielding an ''A '' team. I think a lot of African teams would be good to play because of their athleticism and their strength.Ghana is a very strong team , and is going to be a very strong opponent come june 22.
I really haven't seen that much of many African teams at all, I know they have amazing speed and strength and have some quality players in their squad.After the African Nations Cup I'll tell you if they are the best.