Ghana vs. Morocco Preview

This is it, the last match of the group stage. Three teams can still secure a qualifying berth (Ghana, Guinea, and Morocco), so except the tensest match day yet.

We will miss you, Layrea.

January 20th, 2008
Accra Sports Stadium, Accra
12 PM Eastern Time (18:00 CET, 17:00 GMT)

Match Background:

Despite having won their previous two matches, Ghana still aren’t assured of qualification. Thanks to a poor goal differential, and thanks to both Guinea and Morocco battling for qualification, it’s entirely possible that the Black Stars don’t secure a spot in the quarterfinals. While they can qualify with only a draw against Morocco (though Claude LeRoy promised he would go for the win), Morocco need a win to qualify, especially if Guinea beat Namibia (which is quite likely), so this game will be Ghana’s toughest yet.

Unfortunately for Ghana, their style of play has proven to be a disappointment, and the team looks anything but confident. Home advantage hasn’t brought out the best in Ghana, which has disgruntled many supporters, who were expecting their team to play with more…fervor. The fact that the pace of their build up is even slower than the unfortunates in the group, Namibia, doesn’t help the situation any.

LeRoy has tried to get his players to play possession football, but unlike Franco-Latino teams, they’ve been unable to do anything useful with it. Worse, while Ghana does a good job of stifling their opponent’s midfield, they can’t seem to create anything on their own, which means the strikers hardly have any useful service. Whatever balls are floated are headed away by defenders, so that final pass never materializes.

So far, Ghana have managed to get by with the bare minimum. But Morocco is an entirely different prospect than Guinea and Namibia. First of all, Morocco do play quick, attacking football, a style that might severely disadvantage the Black Stars. The Atlas Lions will probably end up losing control of the midfield, but they have better strikers and have actualwingers.

Ghana must win this game, and they should do so convincingly. Their supporters deserve to see Ghana play to their potential, and what’s more, if they don’t win, even if Ghana qualify, they will be runners-up and could face the Ivory Coast in the quarterfinals.

Squads:

Since Laryea Kingston picked up a stupid yellow card against Namibia, he will have to sit this match out. He’s been one of Ghana’s best players so far, and though LeRoy claims that he has other players who can play that role, his absence is a huge loss.

Ghana squad: Kingson, Adjei, Dauda – Pantsil, Opare, Asare, Mensah, Illiasu, Afful, Sarpei – Annan, Addo, Essien, Kumodzi, Draman, Muntari, Ayew, Barusso – A. Gyan, B. Gyan, Agogo, Owusu-Abeyie, Asamoah

Ghana can consider themselves lucky that Soufiane Alloudi, Morocco’s hat trick hero, is still doubtful for the match. As for the rest of Morocco’s team, it’s hard to predict what squad the Atlas Lions will put out after their disappointing performance against Guinea. Mahmoud over at the Morocco Offside should have more information on what to expect from Morocco.

Morocco squad: Bagui, Fouhami, Lamyaghri – Alioui, Chahiri, Chretien, El Karkouri, Erbate,
Mahdoufi, Ouaddou – Alloudi, El Kaddouri, Kabous, Kharja, Kissi, Safri, Sektioui – Aboucherouane, Chamakh, El Moubarki, Hadji, Moukhtari, Zerka.

Tactics:

Kingson
Paintsil – Addo – Mensah – Sarpei
Ayew – Muntari – Essien – Abeyie
Agogo – Gyan

With Kingston’s suspended, LeRoy will probably be giving Andre Ayew his first start of the tournament. Kingston is a huge loss, but Ayew has a lot of pace and skill. And maybe Kingston’s absence will have a positive effect in forcing Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien to offer more offensively. And though Asamoah Gyan has been having a week to forget, LeRoy said that both Gyan and Junior Agogo would be starting this match.

I think this is the best we can do at the moment. Just imagine how much better Ghana would be if we had Kingston and Stephen Appiah playing. Oh that would be so beautiful. ::tears::

Viewing Options:

Read the WCB’s comprehensive guide to streaming here.

You can also follow the game on the World Cup Blog’s LiveBlog, which will start about an hour before kickoff.

Expected Result:

Oh please something like 3-0. But realistically, probably something like 2-2.