Overview
The inability to participate in the 2025 African Cup makes the performance of the Ghana national team before the friendly match with Austria difficult to assess, as their most recent official match took place in October last year.
Although it was just a friendly match preparing for the World Cup, few people expected the West African representative to suffer a heavy 1-5 defeat to Ralf Rangnick's team. This result also marked their third consecutive defeat, since the 1-0 victory over Comoros in October.
Previously, Ghana had successively lost to Japan 0-2 and South Korea 0-1 in November. Conceding 5 goals - the first since the 0-5 defeat to Saudi Arabia in 2007 - further shows the shock that this team just received.
More worryingly, Ghana's collapse mainly took place in the second half, when they conceded 4 goals. Previously, coach Otto Addo's team only conceded one goal from Marcel Sabitzer's penalty kick at the end of the first half.
However, "Black Stars" still has about 3 months to fix the problems before entering the opening match of the World Cup against Panama on June 18.
However, the next challenge is even more difficult, when Ghana has to face a German team that is in very high form.
Germany's winning streak in the World Cup qualifiers is built on a solid defensive foundation, with 4 clean sheets in the last 5 matches against Luxembourg (4-0, 2-0), Northern Ireland (1-0) and Slovakia (6-0). Therefore, few people expect the clash with Switzerland to become a goal-scoring match.
However, an exciting scenario took place at Basel, when the German team was led twice but still came back to win 4-3. Star Florian Wirtz is the most outstanding factor, directly contributing to all four goals with two goals and two assists.
Liverpool players operate flexibly on the left wing, often cutting into the center to create difference and bring superior efficiency in attacking play.
Coach Julian Nagelsmann may rotate the squad in the upcoming match in Stuttgart. However, with the current form, any squad of the German team is expected to continue to cause many difficulties for Ghana, even if the match result is not meaningful in terms of points.
Personnel situation
Although Antoine Semenyo, Jordan Ayew and Thomas Partey all played up to 86 minutes in the heavy defeat against Austria, this trio is likely to continue to start in the match against Germany, when coach Otto Addo is expected to field the strongest squad.
The West African representative may adjust in the two wing corridors, with Gideon Mensah and Marvin Senaya being considered to replace Derrick Kohn and Caleb Yirenkyi in the left and right-back positions.
Jordan Ayew scored his 34th international goal in the match against Austria, and this striker is expected to continue to improve his personal record in a more positive result for Ghana.
On the opposite side, the German team is likely to make changes after the dramatic 4-3 victory over Switzerland. Coach Julian Nagelsmann is considering giving the opportunity to start for the first time to young talent Lennart Karl of Bayern Munich.
In attack, Nick Woltemade can take on the role of center forward in the context of Kai Havertz being rested. In midfield, Pascal Gross and Anton Stach are likely to replace Angelo Stiller and Leon Goretzka.
Expected lineup:
Baumann, Kimmich, Thiaw, Rudiger, Brown, Gnabry, Gross, Stach, Karl, Woltemade, Schade.
Zigi, Senaya, Pfeiffer, Djiku, Mensah, Issahaku, Partey, Sulemana, Semenyo, Adu, Ayew.
The match between Germany and Ghana takes place at 1:45 am on March 31 (Vietnam time).
