Brazil – Ghana Preview : With Brazil due to play Cameroon in their World Cup group in Qatar later this year, they’ve lined up two friendlies against African opposition, starting with this one against four-time Africa Cup of Nations champions Ghana.
Brazil are unbeaten since losing the Copa América final to Argentina in July 2021 (W10, D3) so will expect to kick off their final preparations for the global showpiece in style.
Winning four of their last five matches by a four-goal margin suggests they’ll expect to dominate again, with Brazil only conceding once during that sequence of five victories.
However, with manager Tite raising eyebrows by leaving out the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Philippe Coutinho in favour of some less experienced players, they may not have things all their own way.
That could encourage Ghana, who have lost all four previous H2Hs, failing to score in each of the last three.
This game being played in Le Havre, France, could help them too as just three of their playing squad are based outside of Europe and it’s one of their European-based players, Iñaki Williams, who will be in the spotlight if he debuts having recently switched his allegiance from Spain.
As they’ve won just two of their last 11 matches on foreign soil (D4, L5), a good showing against the five-time World Cup winners might be beyond them. This friendly could still serve a useful purpose though, providing Ghana with important World Cup preparation ahead of meeting another South American side, Uruguay, in their group.
Players to watch: Neymar has netted three penalties across Brazil’s last two fixtures, having converted 12 of the 14 he’s taken in international friendlies, while Ghana’s Mohammed Kudus has scored six goals in his last five club appearances, though none later than the 65th minute.
Hot stat: No African side has beaten Brazil since Cameroon did so back in June 2003 (W16, D3).
Source : Flashscore.com
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