Ghana 26 World Cup Preview

It's comical how for a 2nd cycle running, Ghana have against the odds tumbled into the Men's World Cup all while spending the cycle plummeting down the overall world rankings. They've been even worse than 4 years ago, they couldn't make it to the AFCON that we just had this winter!

But the federation finally noticed that - also hilariously too late, making the decision after the final friendlies - & have done a last minute switch of coaches in hopes of arriving better than they've been. I hate firings this late but otherwise, it's hard to argue with. It also kind of makes my analysis less valuable to some degree. I'll spend this preview talking about Otto Addo's team that no longer exists, so who the hell really knows until they play late friendlies which is far after I'm writing this. So I'll break down the history of the team this cycle.

For most competitive games, Addo loved the 4-2-3-1. Mohammed Salisu was cemented in at centerback, but an injury will keep him out of this World Cup. Equally cemented in for the pivot in front is Thomas Partey, frequent captain of the team. Up front is where most of the names live.

Mohammed Kudus - out due to injury this WC - has been the trusted number 10. Antoine Semenyo will certainly be in the front 3, most likely on the left. Inaki Williams puts in shifts, mostly from the bench. Up front, Jordan Ayew is still a regular & still pretty damn effective on his day.

This team has been horrific; their inability to qualify for an AFCON proves that they enter as 1 of the 2 most inconsistent African teams here. Outside of Jordan Ayew & maybe Thomas Partey, none of their key players are any bit effective for their national team here.

Salisu has been a rock in the back; in that, he's unmoving as the coach keeps selecting him & also unmoving as he watches guys run by him. The guy has looked way too slow for their Back 4. Moot points since he won't be around this summer, but a big impact of their poor cycle worth mentioning. The real one that grinds my gears is Kudus, both his use from the coaching as well as his own play. He has repeatedly been given the playmaking keys & my goodness is he not fit for that kind of role. He isn't creative & doesn't have the runway in behind, so he resorts to dumb 25 yard rips a lot.

Returning to edit this: Kudus is out of the squad through injury, so no sense harping more on that. But he is a player I'm opinionated on so I'll keep the below blurbs.

Watch for 2 examples in a row of Kudus being shoot-on-sight to no avail (he was awful in this must-win to stay alive for AFCONQ):

The reason I'm so critical of Kudus is that the rare time he does do selfless stuff for the team, he looks world class, like this nice passing move followed by a run that pulls the centerback just far enough away from the goalscorer:

Semenyo is a complete ghost in the team. Unlike Kudus I don't think a lot of it is on him, but at no point has he ever looked like a threat for this national team from his left wing spot. Don't go assuming he's effective because of his club stature, he has yet to deliver for Ghana really. Inaki too. All of this is made worse by the structural issue that outside of Partey, nobody is good in possession behind the creative line of players. The team is littered with problems in every single area; at least I don't remember the goalkeeper being a liability on top of it all.

To me, it sounds like this team needs to drop their defensive line & give their forwards, including a famously great counterattacker Semenyo, vertical space to attack.

That's the most likely tactic for any last minute manager thrown into a team before the World Cup! Queiroz is an experienced international manager too, honestly one of the best hires they could have gotten in this situation. The whole situation makes them by far the biggest wildcard this tournament. I could be receptive to a crazy pitch with them finishing 2nd in their group.

The injuries to players are never something to celebrate, but it will force changes & I can say that changing is good because a whole lot of it needs to happen to this team. They feel close to a newly founded club team that's playing together for the first time here (again! 2022 was like this too). In fact, this team feels so brand new that I'm not even going to replace those Kudus clips with ones that might be more relevant. We all will get a better read on this team with zero set expectations, honestly. Unread this preview if you can.

But yeah, I can't find a saving grace in the team of the past 4 years - even their qualifying campaign was not convincing despite the success - so the optimistic take is that they change their approach, an idea that became way more likely by Addo getting fired. To simpler soccer!

I agree with Mr. Brightside that it's quite likely to see them get better through basic stuff, making Ghana one of the hardest teams in the tournament to predict with a wide range of finishes. 4th place in group is likely, but a shock Round of 16 feels weirdly possible too. Add in the fact that 2 huge underperformers in this team won't be around & that feels like possible addition by subtraction.

Haven't decided if I'm bold enough myself to advance them, but this strangeness does keep that possibility alive despite a horrendous record this decade overall.