Preview: Ghana – Germany

(GSM) – Ghana and Germany face off on Wednesday in what could turn out to be one of the key games at this World Cup. The Germans need a win to keep things in their own hand, while a draw would be enough for Ghana to advance.

The Ghanaians had a strong start to their tournament, beating Serbia in the opening match. But a disappointing 1-1 draw with Australia left the Africans with the difficult task of keeping three-times World Champions Germany at bay.

Ghana still have to do without Isaac Vorsah for this game, as the player is suffering from injury and also missed his team’s second group match.

Prince Tagoe, Jonathan Mensah, Lee Addy and Anthony Annan were all booked in one of the previous two games and another yellow card would ban them from playing in a possible round of sixteen encounter.

Germany impressed in their opening match, beating Australia 4-0. But just when Joachim Löw’s side were considered a top favorite to win the tournament, they suffered a surprising 0-1 defeat to Serbia and their World Cup campaign is in serious danger as a result.

Miroslav Klose was red-carded against Serbia and as such will be sidelined for Wednesday’s encounter. Mesut Özil, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira would all miss Germany’s next game if they are booked against Ghana.

For Ghana, a would guarantee first place in Group C and a draw would certainly be enough for second. A defeat would have the Africans depend on the other group game, in which they would need Australia to beat the Serbians.

Germany need a win if they don’t want to depend on the result in the other game. In case of a draw, they would likely still advance if Australia win their match against Serbia as the Germans have a much better goal difference than the Socceroos. A defeat would certainly mean the end of the road for the ‘Mannschaft’.

The Germans have good memories from their last encounter with Ghana, winning 6-1 in a 1993 friendly.

Wednesday’s match, with kick-off at 20:30 local time, takes place at Johannesburg’s Soccer City. The referee appointed is Brazilian Carlos Simon.