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| June 22, 2006 | Thursday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 25, 1427 |
Ghanaians must forget Brazil for time being
NUREMBERG, June 21: Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic's main task ahead of the final World Cup Group E clash with United States on Thursday has been to banish dreams of a possible second-round clash with Brazil.
Instead, he wants his team to concentrate on an all-out battle between two strong and attacking sides who retain a chance of advancing to the knockout stage.
Ghana, who bounced back from an opening 2-0 defeat by Italy to defeat Czech Republic by the same score, have spoken of the prospect of playing the five-times champions in the last 16.
“We are not afraid to meet the Brazilians,” said midfielder Michael Essien.
“But first we need to deal with the United States, then we will see who our next opponents are.”
The group is wide open, with all four teams having a chance to progress.
Ghana, on three points, and United States, with one, need to win to hope to overhaul Italy and the Czechs, who are first and second in the group with four and three points respectively.
US coach Bruce Arena said he would tell his players to go all-out for a win and ignore news from the Italy-Czech Republic match in Hamburg.
“What do I do?” said Arena. “Call in the goalscoring machine? It's not my business to deal with that game. All we ever wanted was to have a chance in game three.”
Ghana have a powerful team whose surging, adventurous football has captivated German audiences.
But the Americans showed in their rugged 1-1 draw with Italy, when three men were sent off, they have immense heart and determination.
Dujkovic said: “We have won only one match and I should calm our players down and warn them not to be too excited.
“If we take second place we will face Brazil probably and the players have expressed already they would die for this match.”
Ghana are without striker Asamoah Gyan and midfielder Sulley Muntari. The United States are minus Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Pope, sent off against Italy.
Probable teams:
GHANA (4-4-2): 22-Richard Kingston; 15-John Paintsil, 13-Habib Mohammed, 5-John Mensah, 7-Shilla Illiasu; 9-Derek Boateng, 8-Michael Essien, 10-Stephen Appiah, 20-Otto Addo; 14-Matthew Amoah, 19-Razak Pimpong.
UNITED STATES (4-4-2): 18-Kasey Keller; 3-Carlos Bocanegra, 22-Oguchi Onyewu, 13-Jimmy Conrad, 6-Steve Cherundolo; 17-DaMarcus Beasley, 10-Claudio Reyna, 21-Landon Donovan, 8-Clint Dempsey; 20-Brian McBride, 9-Eddie Johnson.
Referee: Markus Merk (Germany).—Reuters
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