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Ghana names 26-player preliminary World Cup squad

GhanaNationalTeam1-Egypt2013WCQ (AFP)

By DAN KARELL

Ghana head coach Kwesi Appiah has chosen one of the strongest sides in memory to represent his nation at the World Cup this summer.

Appiah announced on Monday a 26-man provisional World Cup squad featuring the likes of Kevin-Prince Boateng, Asamoah Gyan, and Michael Essien. Gyan and Sulley Muntari are in line to represent the Black Stars at their third straight World Cup.

The squad also includes up and coming winger Wakaso Mubarak, who scored four goals at the 2013 African Cup of Nations, the Ayew brothers Jordan and Andre, and experienced but young defender Samuel Inkoom.

Ghana is set to face the Netherlands in a friendly match in Amsterdam on May 31 and afterward Appiah is expected to select the final 23-man squad. The Black Stars will then travel to Miami to face South Korea on June 9 before heading to Brazil.

Ghana begin its World Cup adventure on June 16 in Natal against the United States. They face Germany on June 21 in Fortaleza and finish their Group G matches on June 26 in Brasilia against Portugal.

Here’s a look at Ghana’s provisional 26-man World Cup squad:

GHANA PROVISIONAL WORLD CUP SQUAD

GOALKEEPERS: Fatau Dauda (Orlando Pirates), Adam Kwarasey (Stromsgodset), Stephen Adams (Aduana Stars)

DEFENDERS: Samuel Inkoom (Platanias), Daniel Opare (Standard Liege), Harrison Afful (Esperance), Jeffrey Schlupp (Leicester), John Boye (Rennes), Jonathan Mensah (Evian), Jerry Akaminko (Kisehirspor), Rashid Sumalia (Mamelodi Sundowns)

MIDFIELDERS: Michael Essien (AC Milan), Sulley Muntari (AC Milan), Rabiu Mohammed (Kuban Krasnodar), Kwadwo Asamoah (Juventus), Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu (Udinese), Afriyie Acquah (Parma), Christian Atsu (Vitesse), Albert Adomah (Middlesbrough), Andre Ayew (Marseille), Mubarak Wakaso (Rubin Kazan)

FORWARDS: Asamoah Gyan (Al Ain), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Schalke 04), Abdul Majeed Waris (Valenciennes), Jordan Ayew (Sochaux), David Accam (Helsingborg)

Comments

  1. great game this would be. can’t just wait for this.game. My us friends would be coming in for a revenge and Ghana would try to see its dominance over the Us team. We hope the best team wins but my bet is on the #blackstars

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  2. For the U.S team, my idea of their state has currently diminished since the last time I saw them in action was 4 years ago and when I did, in highlights. As a Ghanaian and having followed every every nook and cranny of the team, I’ve made the following obsevations;
    1. The Blackstars has lost more defensive and gained attacking bite under Kwasi. This has increased the probability and surety of the team scoring and also increased the vulnerability of the team conceding. You would be wrong to say the defence is not good. It is simply an issue of organization. A well marshalled 4 and 5 and a teribble central midfielder organised as done by Milovan is a headache for strikers.

    2. Ghana has the best midfielders in Africa but not the best midfield. Any well organised unit will make our main strenght flat. This is so because Akwasi has not been able to find the right blend and most importantly a systematic pattern of play for the team. And the only time he did, Egypt wished the draw for the final round of qualifying had been conducted again.

    3. The boys are individually brilliant so expect goals from midfield so watch out.

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  3. AM AN AMERICAN CITIZEN BUT BORN IN GHANA.AM SORRY TO SAY BUT USA SHOULD JUST THROW IN THE TOWL. GHANA IS TEN TIME BETTER THAN THE LAST TWO WCUPS.THE MIDFIELD N STRIKERS ARE SOO DEADLY. KLINGSMAN DOES NOT KNO WHAT HE IS UP AGAINST. SOMEONE SAID EARLIER ON THAT GHANA LOS TO MALI 4-1.IN THAT GAME.GH DID NOT TAKE IT SERIOUSLY AND 85PERCENT of these players did not play.anyway gud luck

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  4. West African teams tend to be loaded with individual talent, and have a great deal of pace and quickness in the attack. But, they often suffer from lack of endurance, and also tend to break down towards the end of games when it comes to tactics, cohesion and team work. This has to do, in part, with genetic loading for fast twitch muscle vs, slow twitch muscle.) That is a very rough generalization, but it is a general trend. Ghana will come out like gangbusters and press, and attack – I bet they try to swarm us and look to score a quick 2-3 goals in the first 30 minutes. If our defense holds strong in the first half we can take them in the second half, especially in the last 20-25 minutes of the game. The US as a whole will have better endurance, and will be the team more likely to finish strong. But I worry about the wealth of riches that Ghana displays in the midfield. Also their coach has a reputation for being a master tactician. And if they do score early, it will make us have to chase the game, and leave us open to the counterattack which will play into Ghana’s hands. Timely substitutions, as they often do will play a crucial role for both teams.

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    • Your genetics theory leaves much to be desired. It’s a very sub par attempt at consoling yourself. So none of that worked for you in the last two world cups?

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    • You probably talking about the Nigerians. It is true about them but not the Ghana Black Stars. Find this game on youtube and see for yourself. (Ghana vs USA in WC 2006).

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    • SEE THIS GRAND MUMU ALSO COMMENTING ON THIS BLOG. KUKUPHILLY, THIS IS AN ASTUTE SITE. SEE FOR YOURSELF THE COMMENT SO FAR AND COMPARE THEM TO YOURS. MORE HAD ANALYTICAL CONSTRUCTIONS AND RALK IMMENSE SENSE. YOURS IS JUST COMING TO FILL SPACE. ” IT WONT BE A CLOSE CALL’ SO WHAT????? THAT IS SO EMPTY. DO YOU THINK THIS IS GSN. MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAD BEEN IN SCHOOL. PLEASE STOP UNDERMINING GHANAIAN LEVEL OF INTELLECTUALNESS WITH YOU EMPTYNESS

      YOURS SINCERELY
      SNOW DEMON
      BODO, NORWAY

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    • Lol. Mali beat Ghana’s “B” team for 3rd place in African Cup of Nations. And US stand no chance against Mali either. Their forwards are quicker and defense stronger. But Ghana’s b team still has a better midfield.

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  5. Guys, you are only focussing on Kwadwo Asamoah. Just don’t forget the rest: Kevin Prince Boateng, Andre Ayew who us to me the dangerous player in the mid mid, Jordan Ayew dude is scoring week in week out in Ligue 1, Accam is also scoring every match with stunner from yesterday, Abdul Majeed Warris Omg this guy is fast !!! When he’s on the ball, its pretty hard to take it from him. And his goal scoring rate is amazing. Asamoah Gyan, the least said about this dude the better for the USA fans. The combi of Gyan and Warris is proven to be deadliest in the history of Ghana football. The other thing is, they have guys like Kevin Prince Boateng and Kwadwo Asamoah playing behind and feeding them. Christian Atsu, if you are talking about a player with speed and skills then you should look at this dude. His skills is over the top and I see him winning a lot of fouls for Ghana. Andre Ayew is the boss on the field and I don’t see him losing ball to any player . Arsenal, Manchester United are all chasing him. Ghana’s NO1 keeper is Kwarasey who was chosen as as the best goalkeeper in Norway. Ghana just can’t lose to USA and Portugal

    My prediction: USA 1-4 Ghana

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    • I don’t know if you’ve heard this one before: football is a team sport. England similarly had a group of world class talent in 2010. Their press named the group “EASY”. The “Y” in that acronym stood for “Yanks”.

      Guess who finished first in that group?

      In the words of Dr. Dre, talk is cheap. See you in Brazil.

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      • So true! its why I see Ghana winning the group with US second. Germany and Portugal will go fishing after the first round.

  6. watch out for majid warris who will pair dangerous asomoah gyan upfront with kevin prince boateng and kwadwo asamoah playing behind them..majid waris scored 9 goals in 11 matches for vallencien.he have pace so they can be dangerous to slow defenders.that is what happened to egypt when they were demolished 6-1 in the play off..

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  7. I think Chandler will play on the right and FJ on the left with Cameron as CB. The U.S. just has to play smart and not open themselves up. If they do this, they will get more than their share of chances on goal.

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  8. I really hope we can manage to hold them to less than 3 goals. It’ll require some really good tactics in the midfield to prevent their attack from getting going. If Klinsi doesn’t play this absolutely right, they could easily put up 3 or 4 on us.

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  9. This is going to be the type of game where it could come down to tactics, structure, and players assertively playing their roles to absolute perfection. But someone earlier pointed out that appiah is no slouch so perhaps that’s out the door as well.

    Mubarak wakaso. I just shudder at the sound of that name. I can see him single handedly shredding us now. We just don’t have the speed for these guys, Portugal is honestly a more winnible game in my opinion. Hopefully i’m over-reacting.

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    • I mean, Wakaso is good but he’s not even a starter for this team. I feel sorry for the Ghana coach considering how difficult it would be to choose his first eleven. That’s how good their team is

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      • I hope Wakaso regains his form later in the tournament. He’s Ghana’s free kick specialist. His move from Espanyol to Russia was terrible. He was Ghana’s MVP in the African Cup of Nation.

    • is funny how Americans think Ghana has got bad defense.Check their qualifying and you will be shock. one of the keepers is the best in Norway and i mean he has won it three consecutive times. The defenders might not have names like the midfielders and attack but they are not weak. And the fact that a player plays in Africa does not mean he is poor. A look at the Ghana team shows that out of the 26 only 4 plays in Africa even if playing in Africa makes one not good enough.the rest are super stars.

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      • Yo sally, relax. No one is saying their defense sucks, what is more accurately being reiterated is that, of the 3 primary disciplines on the field (attack, midfield, defense), their defense is the weakest component.

        This is true and frankly is our only hope of walking away with 3. So chill, we realize the challenge which lies ahead and certainly have a history of struggling with this squad. But huge thanks for characterizing all Americans incorrectly. Your contribution is much appreciated…

      • True! Defense is Ghana’s weakest component. I’m not too confident about our defense because of injuries, lack of playing time and options. Especially in the CB positions.

  10. Has ghana scored more than a goal all year? Not saying it will be an easy game, but this is a weaker ghana team than in years past in my opinion.

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      • The blackstars of Ghana has been scoring on an average 2 to 3 goals in a game,in their last qualifiers to the WC they mummified the pharoahs of Egypy 6-1, I feel so sorry for the USA… you got to battle it out with Portugal and Germany

    • This year? No, but they haven’t played anything approaching their A squad this year. Last year they scored 38 goals in 16 games. Their attack is straight up terrifying.

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    • They only time Ghana played with an 85% “A Team” was vs. Egypt. They beat Egypt 6-1 without even trying. The coach as been trying new players for the past two years and left the starters to concentrate on their club football. I think it’s made Ghana drop in word rankings, but has made the team more stronger with a combination of youth and experience.

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    • I think that’s why Klinsman is high on getting Chandler in. I see him Moving Cameron in to CB for this game, asking Chandler on the right and FJ/Beasely on the left to bomb forward and help get the ball up front, quickish. After the last Mexico friendly I think I remember in interviews players stating they’d emphasized getting the ball forward on the ground in a relatively direct manner. That really suits MBs game too.

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  11. Good thing we’ve been accused of playing boot ball in the past because I would definitely recommend just bypassing that midfield entirely.

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    • I doubt any of them are good but don’t know for sure. That is the one big historical weakness for African teams, they are very far behind in teaching that position.

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  12. Wow. On the one hand, they have a shaky defense. On the other, we don’t have the speed for a pure counterattack plan to be successful, and putting too many numbers forward during the run of play will leave our porous defense exposed.

    I have faith that we can get a result, but this roster should be a reality check to those who think we will beat Ghana and then just tie one of our last two to get through.

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    • Yeah we’re all underestimating them big time. Nothing has ever happened in the past that would cause us to appraise their value anywhere near its realistic level.

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      • Actually, a lot of people seem to be underrating them specifically because of what’s happened. There’s this idea circulating that this team can’t possibly beat us three times in a row. Which is absurd.

      • Except Brazil, France, Italy and Germany, all of who have had an elite goalkeeper every cycle over the last 20+ years. There are plenty of teams who have had better goalkeeping since the 2006 World Cup as well.

      • He may not be elite right now, but he definitely was top 10 not too long ago. Even now hes still a great gk, and Victor and Jefferson are pretty damn good too

      • Yeah but what about Spain, Netherlands, Argentina, ect. those guys don’t produce GK at the rate we do. I would say Howard, heck even Guzan would just walk into those team. Even 2nd tier teams like Belgium, Colombia and Uruguay have struggle at gk.

      • If by “walk into the team”, you mean be one of 3 GKs one the world cup squad, then the Dutch and Argentina teams you would be correct, would he start for either? Argentina definitely, but only because their best keeper never gets called up. For the dutch could he start? Idk Stekelenburg is pretty damn good. For Spain? Casillas, Diego Lopez, victor Valdes, and Pepe Reina are better than Howard. Definitely wouldnt start for Uruguay or Belgium

      • Casillas and Diego Lopez most absolutely definitely. Dont be delusional, people like to hate on Valdes because he lets in a howler every once in a while. But so does Howard for Everton and the US, and Pepe Reina has been one of the most consistent GKs in England in a long time.The only people who put Howard ahead of any of those guys are US fans

      • No they couldn’t walk in, those teams are not second tier, and Thibaut Courtois and Simon Mignolet aren’t struggling.

      • Colombia has David Ospina and Belgium has Courtois… lol you clearly don’t know international soccer. Those keepers are top tier buddy.

    • we have some pretty damn good Goalkeepers for a nation outside the top 12 ranking by FIFA.

      but we need goalkeepers at a big CL club and to hold that spot down.

      if we had a keeper at Barcelona or Juventus or Munich, you know we made it

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    • We have to do way better than Egypt at getting through their midfield. It’s impossible to challenge a defense if there is only sporadic involvement in the final third. Their midfield is tight as a vice, and their forwards are very fast and athletic. That’s how they plan to win.

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