The Black Stars of Ghana are set to take on the South Korean national side in their final pre-world cup friendly in Miami on Monday night. The game is the team’s 2nd friendly which follows their 0-1 loss to the Netherlands on May 31.
The Black Stars desperately need the win to boost morale having lost their last two friendly games. This means the team has not won a game this year having lost 1-0 as well to Montenegro in March. With barely a week left to the beginning of the 2014 World Cup, taking place in Brazil, the value of a win against the Asian side cannot be underestimated.
Aside the allure of a victory, the game should serve as a final testing ground for coach-Kwesi Appiah to try his starting formation and tactics before the team’s opening game against the United States on June 16.
The team, which has been training in Miami for the past week, faces the South Koreans in the pre World-Cup match for the second time after beating them 3-1 en route to their maiden World Cup in Germany, where the team qualified to the Round of 16.
In related team news, goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey is back in training after a slight knock threatened to rule him out of the World Cup. Aside that, coach James Kwesi Appiah seems to have a full squad at his disposal, which is contrary to that of South Korean manager Hong Myung-Bo, whose squad was hit with a virus and thus has several players missing from action.
In a friendly game earlier this year, South Korea lost 2-0 to Ghana’s first opponents the United States of America.
Ghana’s other Group G opponents Germany and Portugal were both involved in friendlies on Friday night. Germany blazed past Armenia 6-1 in a game which ended sourly for the Germans after Marco Reus suffered ligament damage which rules him out of the world cup.
Portugal beat Mexico with a late Bruno Alves header in a game without star man-Cristiano Ronaldo. Speaking after the game, manager Paolo Bento refused to commit on the issue of the probable return of Ronaldo.
Ghana vs South Korea kicks off at 2300 GMT on Monday June 9 at the Sun Life Stadium in Miami, USA. And you can watch it LIVE on GhanaCelebrities.Com
kwasi appiah better field his first eleven for us to see how they would fair and stop this am keeping my tactics to myself untill the world cup business….