The lead-up to what is presumably Cristiano Ronaldo’s final World Cup with Portugal has been dominated by the forward’s fallout with Manchester United. Portugal’s 2022 World Cup run will get underway against a young, energetic Ghana team. The Black Star will attempt to cash on this victory.

Ahead of the competition, most of the discussion surrounding Portugal has been on Cristiano Ronaldo’s controversial comments and if the inclusion of two additional Manchester United players will cause a rift within the team.

They’ll be eager to demonstrate that hasn’t been the case by winning the opening match against Ghana, but the Black Stars will feel confident about their chances after recently defeating Switzerland 2-0.

• Team News:

Ronaldo, who has been embroiled in controversy off the field, missed Portugal’s victory against Nigeria due to sickness, but the 37-year-old says he will be ready to play in Thursday’s opener.

As a result, Santos should have a fully fit squad available to him this week. As a result, he will have some selection difficulties, particularly in goal, where Diogo Costa will be vying with Rui Patricio for the goalie position.

Without any major concerns, Bernardo Silva and Ronaldo can be expected to play in the starting lineup. This leaves players like Joao Felix, Rafael Leao, Otavio, and Andre Silva to compete for the final attacking slot; the AC Milan starlet’s skill on the left side should be in his favour.

Similar to how Ghana’s manager Addo should have every player available for the first game, the Black Stars manager faces the best kind of selection dilemmas after resting some key players in last week’s victory over Switzerland.

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Thomas Partey, Kamaldeen Sulemana, and Alexander Djiku, for example, will all anticipate returning to the starting lineup after being benched for that match in which Andre Ayew and Jordan Ayew both played from the start.

Andre Ayew, who currently plays for Al-Sadd in Qatar, would create history if he played in this match by accruing the most World Cup appearances for an African player with eight, but Sulemana and Inaki Williams might start as favourites.

• Possible Lineup:

Portugal’s possible starting lineup:
Costa; Cancelo, Pepe, Dias, Guerreiro; Neves, Carvalho, Fernandes; B. Silva, Ronaldo, Leao

Ghana’s possible starting lineup:
Ati Zigi; Lamptey, Amartey, Djiku, Baba; Partey, Abdul Samed; Sulemana, Kudus, J. Ayew; Williams

• Score Prediction:

The Portuguese team is definitely one of the best in the world, but recent results haven’t been spectacular, and the controversy surrounding Ronaldo hasn’t helped.

On the other hand, Ghana’s recent performances have been remarkable, and they have a great collection of players, particularly up front, who shouldn’t be underrated.

Be prepared for a tighter game than most people are anticipating, and don’t be shocked if Ghana wins the match with the star and performance of the Portugal team thing might turnaround

Prediction: Portugal 3-1 Ghana

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Ghana’s official 26-man squad for Qatar has been confirmed and released, and they will be aiming for a good campaign this time as Thomas Partey leads the squad.

On the 14th of November 2022, Coach Otto Addo announced his squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup which includes Dede Ayew, Tariq Lamptey.

Otto Addo has made some surprise selections as he named his 26-man squad for the tournament, where the Black Stars face Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay in Group H.

Sowah has performed admirably as the Belgian team advanced to the round of 16 in the Champions League, defeating Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen along the way.

There was also the first call-up for midfielder Salis Abdul Samed, 22, who has been a regular for Racing Lens this season as they have moved to second in the French Ligue 1 standings.

Former Spain international Inaki Williams and England under-21 international Tariq Lamptey, who threw in their lot with Ghana two months ago, were both included but Ghana failed to persuade England international Callum Hudson Odoi to switch his allegiance.

Jojo Wollacott of Charlton Athletic and Richard Ofori, a goalkeeper living in South Africa, were Ghana’s initial two options, but both sustained injuries while playing for their clubs. As a result, Ghana was obliged to name three untested goalkeepers.

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The squad will be captained by Dede Ayew, who was part of the team that reached the quarterfinals in South Africa in 2010 – only the third time an African nation has reached the last eight of a World Cup.

SQUAD:

Goalkeepers: Lawrence Ati-Zigi (St Gallen), Danlad Ibrahim (Asante Kotoko), Manaf Nurudeen (Eupen)

Defenders: Joseph Aidoo (Celta Vigo), Daniel Amartey (Leicester City), Abdul-Rahman Baba (Reading), Alexander Djiku (Racing Strasbourg), Tariq Lamptey (Brighton & Hove Albion), Gideon Mensah (AJ Auxerre), Denis Odoi (Club Brugge), Mohammed Salisu (Southampton), Alidu Seidu (Clermont Foot)

Midfielders: Andre Ayew (Al Sadd), Mohammed Kudus (Ajax Amsterdam), Daniel-Kofi Kyereh (SC Freiburg), Elisha Owusu (Gent), Thomas Partey (Arsenal), Salis Abdul Samed (Racing Lens)

Forwards: Daniel Afriyie (Hearts of Oak), Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace), Osman Bukari (Red Star Belgrade), Issahaku Abdul Fatawu (Sporting Lisbon), Antoine Semenyo (Bristol City), Kamal Sowah (Club Brugge), Kamaldeen Sulemana (Stade Rennes), Inaki Williams (Athletic Bilbao).

🚨𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝟐𝟔-𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝗦𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗗 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗 𝗖𝗨𝗣 𝗜𝗡 𝗤𝗔𝗧𝗔𝗥. #BlackStars | @FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/C21kArl3hR

— 🇬🇭 Black Stars (@GhanaBlackstars) November 14, 2022

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