Ghana face World Cup struggle

Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac says he’s not worried by the lack of time he has had to work with his World Cup squad, but I’m not sure the Black Stars look equipped to make an impact in South Africa.

Rajevac only met with the majority of his 30-man squad in Paris on Sunday, and with their opening Group D game against Serbia on June 13th less than three weeks away, the Africans look short of time.

Twenty members of the team left Accra on Sunday for their French training camp and were joined by the remaining ten European-based players – including Chelsea’s Michael Essien and Portsmouth’s Kevin-Prince Boateng later in the week.

Rajevac also has several injuries to key players to contend with. Essien’s fitness remains in doubt after he missed the majority of the season with a knee injury. John Mensah is also a big concern, while Stephen Appiah, John Paintsil and Laryea Kingston have only just returned from injury.

But as well as all those problems, the African nation will also have to negotiate their way past group favourites Germany, as well as Serbia and Australia. In fact, in terms of FIFA rankings, Group D is the toughest in the competition.

The focus has been on Group G as ‘the group of death’ with Ivory Coast, Brazil, Portugal and North Korea, but Group D looks equally tough with only Germany looking assured of place in the second round.
Australia might lack technical ability but they will prove to be resilient, while Serbia have some talented players and could well make it through alongside Germany – leaving Ghana all set for an early exit from the tournament.