Fifth friendly in the history of the football federations of Australia and Ghana: 2-1 (Sydney, 1995), 1-0 (Adelaide, 1995), 0-1 (Perth, 1995) and 2-0 (Durban, South Africa 1996). Australia’s last 5 games have been “under 2.5 goals?: Australia v Italy 0-1 (World Cup, Kaiserslautern - June 2006), Australia v Kuwait 2-0 (Asian Nations Cup, Sydney - August 2006), Australia v Kuwait 0-2 (Asians Nations Cup, Kuwait City – September 2006), Australia v Paraguay (Friendly, Brisbane, October 2006) and Australia v Bahrein 2-0 (Asian Nations Cup, Sydney - October 2006).
After the defeat against Brazil in the World Cup (0-3), Ghana has beaten Togo (2-0, London – August 2006), Japan (1-0, Yokohama – October 2006) and also Korea Rep. (3-1, Seoul – October 2006). For this friendly the Australian coach Graham Arnold has to organize a new defense as Lucas Neill is injured. Arnold described Ghana as “unpredictable, hard to play against? and he judges this fixture as an important experience for his National team. Two new defenders might be Brett Holman (22 y.o., player of Nijmegen) and Griffiths (25 y.o., player of Rapid Bucarest).
Debut also for Shane Steffanuto, player of Lillestrom in Norway. Arnold will be the coach of Australia at least until the 2007 AFC Asian Cup Finals as the chairman of the Australian Football Federation wants him to lead Australia to the Asian Cup. The captain of the Socceroos in this friendly in London will be Vince Grella, well-known player in Italy as he plays for Parma and the captains of the past three games (Skoko, Neill, Viduka) will not play on Tuesday. Cahill will also not be available because of the injury he suffered against Aston Villa while Harry Kewell is also injured.
Ghana were the only African National team to qualify to the second stage of the World Cup where they defeated Czech Republic and USA. In Ghana’s injury list there are Illiasu and Mensah but the main players will be available: Appiah, Dramani, Muntari, Essien, Asamoah Gyan, Pimpong and Derek Asamoah. The next important tournament to be played by Ghana is the African Nations Cup of January 2008. Ghana will host the tournament and until this fixture they will have one aim: to maintain the level of football they have shown in the last World Cup.
In this moment of the season the main aim of the players will be not to suffer an injury. A draw is possible as the major strength of Ghana can be equalized by the great number of Australian fans that will follow this game in London. A low number of goals is very probable in my opinion.
14.11.2006 20:45 Australia - Ghana, under 2,5 goals @ 1.6 at Unibet
source: www.betshoot.com