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Portugal vs Ghana Betting Preview – 24.11

Portugal vs Ghana Betting

With the last chance for Cristiano Ronaldo to win the World Cup title, his Portugal will be playing Ghana. Having one of the strongest teams in the world, they will try to beat the opponent. Will they succeed? Let’s find out more in this Portugal vs Ghana betting preview!

Portugal Form

The Portuguese national team goes to the World Cup in Qatar as one of the main favourites of the tournament. The Portuguese now have perhaps the best generation of football players, so the fans of this team have the right to expect that Cristiano Ronaldo’s last campaign for the World Cup will be successful.

Fernando Santos is the head coach of Portugal. He spent his entire coaching career in Portugal and Greece. During 2010-2014, Santos led the Greek national team, successfully leading his team to Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup. After such successes, the specialist was invited to lead Portugal. Under his leadership, the Portuguese national team won Euro 2016.

Among the strengths of the Portuguese national team, we can note the strong defence and creativity of the attacking line. The attacking line of the Portuguese national team is perhaps the strongest in the world. Fernandes, Silva and Leao are able to create a dangerous moment. The presence of such creative players allows to constantly keep opponents in suspense.

The main problem of the Portuguese is seen as the head coach of the team. It seems that Santos gave Portugal everything he could, and it’s time to move on. The Portuguese national team, which has a lot of great attacking players, plays an overly pragmatic football that is by no means beautiful. The squad allows them to play from a position of strength with almost any team in the world, but Santos has chosen a different path and does not want to deviate from it.

Ghana Form

Eight years later, Ghana returns to the World Cup. The once strongest African team will meet in a group with Portugal and a team with which the Ghanaians have not the most pleasant memories. In 2010, in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in South Africa, Ghana played with Uruguay, where only the hand of Luis Suarez separated it from the main achievement of African football – reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Ghana also has a common past with the Portuguese. Africans will certainly try to take revenge in the upcoming tournament.

The Ghana national team is led by Otto Addo. Football fans may remember him from playing for Borussia Dortmund. In the coaching field, Addo has not yet had much success. He became the head coach of Ghana at the beginning of this year, having successfully led the Black Eagles through the playoffs to the World Cup in Qatar.

The strengths of the Ghana national team are the speed and technique of the players. Ghana, like the rest of the African teams, stand out for their high speed and good technique. In all lines, the Black Stars have skilled and, above all, fast players, which allows this team to maintain a high pace of play throughout the match.

The weaknesses of this team are the coaching issue and problems with discipline. Addo has little experience as a head coach, and it’s not yet clear what kind of football they will play under him. The Ghana national team has a decent squad that can create trouble for many teams in the tournament. However, it is unlikely that Addo is ready for the tournament.

Interesting Facts

  • Cristiano Ronaldo has played the most matches for Portugal (189) and scored the most goals (117).
  • The Ghana national team is a four-time African champion, although the last time they took gold was in 1982.
  • Portugal lost in three of the last ten meetings.
  • Ghana have lost four of their last ten matches.
  • The greatest achievement of the Portuguese national team in the World Cup is 4th place (2006).

Portugal – Ghana: H2H Matches

This is going to be the second match between Portugal and Ghana. They met each other in 2014 at the World Cup, where Portugal beat the opponent 2:1. Ghana will try to retaliate for the past loss.

Players to Watch

There are a lot of top-quality players on both teams. We will have a thorough look at each of them.

Cristiano Ronaldo – Portugal

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best footballers in history. Ronaldo ranks first in the history of the Portuguese national team in terms of both the number of matches played and the number of goals scored. The forward is already 37 years old. He is gradually starting to decline, but he can still give out one powerful national team tournament like Euro 2016.

Bruno Fernandes – Portugal

Bruno Fernandes is the team’s main playmaker. In the Portugal national team, Fernandes is responsible for moving the ball to the centre of the field and for opening the opponent’s defence. High game intelligence and accurate passes at any distance – with these qualities, Fernandes stands out on the football field.

Ruben Dias – Portugal

Ruben Dias is the main pillar of defence. The Portuguese player has not had a high-level defender for a long time. With the advent of the central defender of Manchester City, this problem has disappeared. Dias, for the current national team of Portugal, is an almost irreplaceable figure. Alongside Pepe, he will form a solid defence.

Thomas Partey – Ghana

Thomas Partey is the main star of the Ghana national team. From the Arsenal midfielder, the connection between the defence and attack of Ghana will depend. Partey has excellent game intelligence, he is not deprived in technical terms, and his skills are among the best in the world.

Jordan and Andre Ayew – Ghana

The sons of Abedi Pele, one of the best football players on the African continent, are still Ghana’s main hope in the attack. The brothers were never able to reach their potential 100% and even come close to the level of their father, however, nevertheless, Ghana do not have such a rich selection of performers, so a good performance from both of them will be very much needed by Ghana at the tournament.

Inaki Williams – Ghana

The Athletic striker has not missed a single game of his team in the last six years. 246 played matches in a row – this is excellent. Williams, in addition to his impeccable health, has explosive speed and excellent technique, so his arrival on the team will be a great boost for the Eagles.

Portugal vs Ghana Betting Tips

We anticipate that in the game, a lot could happen. Therefore we have come up with some predictions that can assist you:

Ghana Handicap +1.5 – 1.70

Against African teams in the World Cups, the Portuguese team does not play so confidently. For example, in 2018, against the Moroccan national team, they managed to win only with a score of 1:0. In 2014, the Portuguese won against Ghana with a score of 2:1, and in 2010 there was a draw against Côte d’Ivoire.

Now Portugal have a very strong squad, but Ghana is still a strong enough team, where there are several players who play in the Premier League. Perhaps Portugal will be able to win, but perhaps with a minimum score, so we bet on Ghana not to lose by more than one ball.

Total Goals Under 3 – 1.55

If we take the last 20 official matches of the Ghana national team, then in 17 of them, no more than two goals were scored. Portugal are scoring 2.22 goals per game this year, but given their history against African teams, we think it’s going to be a tough game. No more than three goals will be scored, so the most reliable option would be under three goals.

Over 9.5 Corner Kicks – 1.85

Portugal often focuses on corner kicks, which is why they serve an average of 5.89 corners per match. Ghana take an average of 5 times per match from the corner kick. We also note that in seven out of nine matches with the participation of the Portuguese national team this year, at least ten corner kicks were taken, so we suggest placing a bet on a total of over 9.5 corners.

Over 3.5 Yellow Cards – 1.70

Two yellow cards are received by the players of the Portuguese national team, and a 2.14 average total by the players of Ghana. On average, 4.11 yellow cards are shown by referees in matches involving the national team of Portugal and 3.71 in games of Ghana. Therefore, we can take over 3.5 yellow cards in the match.

Portugal vs Ghana – Conclusion

We don’t think that Portugal will get an easy win in this match. Ghana have a solid team that proved they can fight against everyone. This will be a tough game where the mastery of particular players can be decisive.