Mexico vs. Ghana Preview

Ghana are eager to erase the sting of their African Cup of Nations campaign with their first match since their third place game against the Ivory Coast. While this is just a friendly, the two teams involved are currently the highest ranked in their respective confederations (Mexico – CONACAF, Ghana – CAF) and play two completely different styles of football that should make for an interesting 90 minutes.

Hans Adu-Sarpei has had to pull out with a last minute injury, and due to the timing, LeRoy has opted not to call anyone up to replace him. However, Laryea Kingston is cleared to play, though his club, Hearts, is furious and plans to complain to the Ghana FA. Good luck with that.

This game will be relatively straight forward on Ghana’s side of things, but the goal scoring problem that LeRoy faced during the ACN still exists. Unlike many other teams, Ghana don’t have anything near a world class striker, or barring that, even a striker who plays in a top club. And to make matters worse, Asamoah Gyan is out injured, which leaves Junior Agogo and the uncapped Eric Bekoe.

Once again, Ghana will have to rely on their midfield to get anything out of the match.

Ghana team: Kingson, Dauda – Paintsil, Mensah, Manu, Afful, Addo – Annan, Essien, Draman, Muntari, Ayew, Kingston, Buaben – Bekoe, Agogo, Owusu-Abeyie

Expected lineup:

Kingson
Paintsil – Addo – Mensah – Manu
Kingston – Essien – Annan – Muntari
Agogo – Owusu-Abeyie

Richard Manu looks to be the most likely candidate to replace Sarpei, while Anthony Annan, Ghana’s newest revelation, may have his chance to impress again at the expense of Haminu Draman. If Kingston is feeling up to it, he should get the nod over Andre Ayew. If not, either Ayew can take his place or Sulley Muntari can shift over to the right, and Quincy Owusu-Abeyie can drop back. But that would mean Eric Bekoe starting. Options, options, options…

Also, check out the Mexico World Cup Blog for information about the Mexican NT. Alan will have all the relevant updates there.

How to watch the game:

Unsurprisingly, it’s hard to find streams for Mexico-Ghana, given the sheer number of friendlies being played today, many of them among higher profile teams. But I did manage to find one link. You’ll need to have flash installed, and hopefully it will work. *crosses fingers*. Remember, the game is at 4 PM Eastern Time (20:00 GMT, 21:00 CET).