Outright Odds: 250/one
Team E Winners: 12/1
Immediately after profitable four African Cup of Nations titles and producing players on the calibre of Abedi Pele and Tony Yeboah, the Black Stars have qualified for the earth Cup finals for The 1st time in ten attempts, stretching again to 1962.
Regardless of being a force in African football between the sixties and eighties, qualification for the earth Cup was under no circumstances a serious exercise plus much more not long ago the state experienced from bad management both equally on and off the pitch to scupper their tries to reach the 1994, 1998 and 2002 finals.
Having said that, this problem was eradicated underneath new supervisor Ratomir Dujkovic. The Serbian took around in December 2004 following Portuguese coach Mariano Barreto quit four months before. Dujkovic enjoyed good results with Rwanda, top a group dubbed as no hopers for their initially African Cup of Nations finals http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/?action=click&contentCollection®ion=TopBar&WT.nav=searchWidget&module=SearchSubmit&pgtype=Homepage#/꽁머니 in 2004.
His impact was distinct as Ghana received 4 꽁머니 of their 5 remaining qualifying fixtures, which includes a 2-0 away victory in excess of South Africa and inevitably topping their team by five points for the cost in the Bafana Bafana.
Exactly where Ghana excel is in midfield. Chelseas Michael Essien is a crucial player for his country and has also shone at club degree, In spite of criticism of his 24.4 million value tag imposed by former club Lyon. They're captained by still left-footed Stephen Appiah who now plys his trade at Turkish outfit Fenerbahce adhering to eight seasons in Italy with Udinese, Parma, Brescia and Juventus. Sulley Muntari also delivers with him Serie A encounter as he is now on the textbooks at Udinese.
Ghana are actually boosted in defence from the return of Roma centre fifty percent Samuel Kuffor. The previous Bayern Munich defender was away from favour pursuing a dispute With all the coach but considering the fact that apologising He's back in contention. Even without the need of him Ghana boasted a necessarily mean defence, conceding just 4 objectives in ten qualifying matches, the minimum of any African country.
In spite of a powerful set up, Ghana go into their Planet Cup group given that the unfancied outsiders which could get the job done to their gain. They're pitted against one of the Event favourites in Italy on their opening match so there is absolutely no actual force for them. The team have gelled properly beneath Dujkovic and they are effective at causing an opening match upset.
Outside of that they may struggle since they absence players having a correct innovative in attack. The accountability will likely be on Vitesses Matthew Amoah and Modenas 20-calendar year old striker Gyan Asamoah.
Encouraged Guess:
Ghana are able to catching out gradual-starters Italy in their initially match and qualifying through the team might be a major accomplishment. Further more difficult games against the Czech Republic and United states of america could begin to see the Black Stars narrowly skip out.
Ghana to defeat Italy @ five/one