Ghana v England: A Preview-By Frederick Quaye
By now you would have heard that England coach Fabio Capello has released Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, and back-to –Bataan captain John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard of Chelsea after their 2-0 triumph over Wales in a 2012 Euro qualifier. This means these players will not feature tomorrow against Ghana in London in the first ever match between the two sides which pits former colonial master against former colony if you will.
Some have claimed that these players are very important to their teams’ European Champions league quarterfinal s to be played on April 6 when Chelsea face Manchester United in a grudge match. Remember Chelsea lost the Champions league Final against Manchester United 2 years ago on penalties.
Anyway back to the point. Some have said it is just a ploy by Capello to escape blame if in-form Ghana beats his side on Tueday.Neequaye Addison of Dallas says” They are so afraid Ghana will disgrace them that he had to drop these guys so a defeat would be seen as against a watered-down England”. However others have also argued that whether watered -down or not Capello’s side is England.
Still, others have maintained that dropping players is normal. Germany also released captain Philip Lamm and Real Madrid pair Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira for their friendly against Australia tomorrow. However Neequaye Addison maintains that that is different. Austria are minnows in football, however Ghana who have been to two successive World Cups [2006, 2010] where the qualified for the second round and quarters respectively cannot be termed minnows. So the Italian must have an agenda which is to steal away the glory should Ghana win and take the glory should Ghana lose.” he said.
Indeed this friendly may invoke memories of USA'S shock 1-0 win over England in Belo Horizonte in 1950,except that there are really very few gaps between Ghana and England in terms of skill. In fact Ghana may boast more technically gifted players than Merry Olde England but the game they introduced to Ghana has become Ghana's .So much so that they threaten to overcome England's old school football. Ghana should not find it difficult playing against England because they are familiar with their style and they have an additional style of their own. So welcome to football for the eyes.
Whatever it is on paper England are favorites ranked sixth on the FIFA Rankings while Ghana are 15th.However, the only times the two have met are in the FIFA U-20 tournaments in Australia 1993 and Egypt 2009.In the first encounter in Sydney, finalists Ghana won 2-1 with goals from Augustine Ahinful and Mohammed Gargo while Jamie Pollock replied for his country in the semis. Ghana overran them in Egypt 4-0 two years ago on the way to becoming World U-20 champions.
So for Ghana, there is no fear only high expectation with at least 5 players from their U-20 world championship side including Andre Ayew, Dominic Adiyiah, Ransford Osei and Jonathan Mensah and Samuel Inkoom that they will bloody the eyes of their former colonial masters for good measure. I think Ghana has a very committed group of players who although were not expected to qualify for the second round at the 2010 World Cup almost slid into the semis but for a Suarez hand of God incident. England who were expected to go as far as the semis, slunk out at the second round. England may have a lot to fear from Ghana.
Indeed with players as Sunderland trio Asamoah Gyan, John Mensah and Sulley Muntari and Schalke’s Annan, among the original group that played the World Cup, The Three Lions who are reportedly going to field an entirely different XI should have a lot to fear from 4-time African champions Black Stars. They are playing their best football at this stage enough for them to overrun England and make nonsense of the FIFA rankings.
But others have also said that Terry,Lampard and Cole an England team do not make.So there are others equally good to don the England jersey.Jack Wilshere,Darren Bent,Ashley Young are the young turks Ghana should be looking out for. Especially with Wilshere fearlessly manning the England midfield with Scott Parker in attendance and speeding Aaron Lennon on the wings,Ghana could come up against a very comfortable side who would carry the game to the visitors.Combative Gareth Barry who is expected to wear the captains band will support the defence which could feature Jgielka, Lescott and Johnson.We will see how things play out tomorrow but I expect nothing short of fireworks with Ghana slightly on top.
Perhaps it would be more pragmatic to peg FIFA rankings to World Cup performance? At the World Cup2006, debutants Ghana were not expected to qualify from the group which included eventual winners Italy, Czech Republic [then ranked #2] ,the USA [then ranked #4]. Ghana made a no brainer of the FIFA rankings blowing away the Czech Republic and USA to qualify for the second round. If indeed Ghana does win then they would have made a case for a revision of FIFA Rankings?
Whatever happens on the pitch tomorrow, Fabio Capello would have no excuses and I feel Ghana has enough chemistry to soundly beat England at home to make history.
