Preview (2nd Stage): Brazil vs Ghana

A superpower in football, Brazil is the heavy favorites to crush a newcomer named Ghana though impression is far from reality. Brazil is yet to show some dominating and convincing wins to solidify fans’ impression that Ghana is a walk in the park match.

How will Brazil win the game? — with lots of bruises.

Brazil have been impressive against Japan where they played their reserves except for Ronaldo who used that game to build his confidence and probably lose some fat.

If Brazil plays to their potential then they should have no problem advancing to the next round after this; but if not they will be going through a rough night against a hard hitting opponent as Ghana.

How do you rate Ghana?

Dangerous and Rough. As Mark Bechtel of CNNSI would describe Ghana:

By manhandling Group E. The Black Stars were fouling machines, roughing up all three of their opponents. But there’s more to this team than its passing resemblance to the 1988 Pistons. The midfield is fantastic — the middies run up the center of the park when they don’t have the ball, hunt down whoever does have it and then transition into attacking mode in no time flat. The only thing they lack is a deadly finisher. If midfielder Michael Essien could shoot, we’d now be discussing if he was, in fact, the best player in the world.

How would Brazil react?

Ricardo Setyon of ESPN has this to say about Brazil.

The defending world champions finally won convincingly in their final group-stage match, thrashing Japan 4-1 with a lineup of mostly reserves — although Ronaldo did score twice. But here’s the odd thing: This team played better with a starting XI of substitutes, didn’t it?

You don’t have to be a genius to see that, with Robinho in the attack, the front line is faster (although the young star will be sidelined against Ghana). And with Juninho Pernambucano, the midfield is more creative, while Cicinho and Gilberto pack more power into the fullback spots. That’s to say nothing of Gilberto Silva, whose solid performance is exposing starter Emerson’s lack of mobility (and people say Ronaldo is fat).

I have my cards on Brazil to end Ghana’s rough World Cup memories.

Below is the lineup for each teams:

Brazil: 1. DIDA , 2. CAFU , 3. LUCIO , 4. JUAN , 6. ROBERTO CARLOS, 8. KAKA , 9. RONALDO , 10. RONALDINHO , 17. GILBERTO SILVA , 19. JUNINHO PERNAMBUCANO , 23. ROBINHO

Ghana: 1. ADJEI Sammy, 3. GYAN Asamoah, 5. MENSAH John, 7. SHILLA Illiasu, 9. BOATENG Derek, 10. APPIAH Stephen, 11. MUNTARI Sulley, 13. MOHAMED Habib, 14. AMOAH Matthew, 15. PANTSIL John, 20. ADDO Otto, 22. KINGSON Richard

Forecast: Brazil 3 – Ghana 1

[tags]FIFA World Cup, World Cup, FIFA World Cup 2006, Germany, Brazil, Ghana[/tags]