Ghana Vrs Portugal | All You Need to Know About Ghana’s Next World Cup Opponent-Portugal

For 90 minutes on Sunday night, all Ghanaians were fans of the Portuguese national side. They were playing the USA, and for Ghana to have any chance of making it out of group G, Portugal had to win.

They couldn’t quite manage it, but the 95th minute equaliser and the 2-2 draw gave Ghana a small lifeline, and on Thursday the two will lock horns to determine who qualifies, hopefully with a little help from Germany.

‘A Selecao’, or ‘The Selection’ is how the Portuguese national team is known. Currently ranked no.4 in the world, they were supposed to be one of the heavyweights in this year’s world cup. After the group stage draw as well, they alongside Germany were the obvious picks from the group; yet after two games all they have to show is a measly point and even victory against Ghana on Thursday might not be enough to send them through.

Portugal qualified for the world cup via the European play-offs, beating Sweden 4-2 on aggregate in a spectacular 2-legged tie that saw Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic score all six goals between them.

The second leg game, which Portugal won 3-2, was a tour de force from Ronaldo. In that 90 minutes in Lisbon Ronaldo single-handedly annihilated the Swedish side, giving the world a taste of what they should expect come this mundial.

Ronaldo has failed to live up to that billing since the world cup began, but rather than letting us relax that should rather put the Black Stars more on their toes. A lion is at its deadliest when it is wounded, and the knowledge that inability to lead his team to victory means they get to exit the competition, and that the accusations of being unable to cut it at the world cup stage would follow him for another four years might just be the catalyst for another performance extraordinaire from Ronaldo.

The current world player of the year has been struggling with knocks throughout the group stages, and between that and his ineffective performances so far the Black Stars just might catch a break. But if he shows up on top form, our defence would have to be on their best shape to counter the threat he poses.

However whilst the Portuguese team is extremely dependent on Ronaldo, he is not the only person in that team capable of hurting the Stars. Irrespective of how they have played so far, Portugal is an extremely talented team with a competent coach and a squad like that need only one galvanising moment and they get to shred you to bits. Individual players like Nani, Raul Meireles, Joao Mouthinho, and Silvestre Varela are capable of turning a game on its head all on their own.

Portugal plays at an extremely fast pace dependent on their full backs and wingers. With Fabio Contreao and Joao Perreira at side back, and Ronaldo and Nani on the wings, there is a lot of flank play and the quality to send in accurate crosses onto the heads of Almeida, Postilga, or Varela.

As we saw from their game against the USA, this is a side desperate to recover lost ground. After going behind 2-1 they threw everything at the US, and the 95th minute equaliser speaks to a certain mental strength the like of which Ghana would need to go through this game unscathed. The equaliser, assisted by Ronaldo speaks to how he steps up when the going gets tough, and it doesn’t get tougher than a final group stage game on which qualification rests on a thumping victory.

Portugal’s 4-0 opening day loss to Germany means for them to have any chance of qualification they have to beat the Stars by at least four goals and hope for a Germany win. Thus the mindset with which they would be approaching this game would be one of outright war, and the Black Stars would need to match them on that front.

A group stage exit is not something Portugal has had to deal with for a while now, and we can be sure they would throw everything they have at this game. Coupled with the fact that the Black Stars also need a win means an explosive game lies in store for us; and whilst not exactly a picnic a win against this limping side is entirely within the realm of possibility for Ghana.