Ghana vs Switzerland preview, time, how to watch, team news, probable lineups

Ghana and Switzerland will face off in a 2022 Qatar World Cup preparatory game in Abu Dhabi on Thursday morning at the Baniyas Stadium.

The game will kick off at 10:00 GMT (10:00 am Ghana time). Both nations start their campaign in Qatar on November 24.

Ghana

Ghana will visit the Middle East after a 2022 which saw the Black Stars experience many highs and lows.

Milovan Rajevac, who led them to the World Cup quarterfinals in 2010, lost his position as a result of the terrible results of the Africa Cup of Nations at the beginning of the year.

Losing to Morocco was expected, but failing to defeat Gabon without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang before falling to debutants Comoros was embarrassing for the country.

Otto Addo took over to lead them into the World Cup playoffs, which would happen just two months after Rajevac left.

The AFCON disaster, however, was easily overlooked when Ghana pulled off an upset by drawing 1-1 in Nigeria to secure a spot in the World Cup on the basis of away goals.

They had mixed fortunes in recent September friendlies, losing to Brazil easily before defeating Nicaragua.

Given that Portugal and Uruguay, two of the teams Ghana will play in the group stage next week, are on par with Switzerland, Switzerland presents a better middle ground for testing the Black Stars.

Switzerland

Here, as Murat Yakin gears up for his first crucial tournament as the European country’s manager, the Swiss’ life after Vladimir Petkovic really begins.

Following their triumph at Euro 2020, Italy completely capitulated, which allowed Switzerland to easily sail past them to win the group and qualify for these finals.

It was important to draw both at home and away against the Azzurri, which was lucky for the Swiss since Jorginho missed penalties in both games. However, a 4-0 thrashing of Bulgaria on the penultimate matchday allowed them to rightly secure their place in Qatar.

After qualifying, however, things took a turn for the worst as Switzerland lost all five of their subsequent games, drawing only once in that stretch against Kosovo.

Due to this, they lost their first three UEFA Nations League games, but they came back to win their final three, which was no easy accomplishment while playing teams of the caliber of Spain, Portugal, and the Czech Republic. As a result, they escaped being demoted from League A.

Ghana

Jojo Wollacott, Charlton Athletic’s first-choice goalkeeper, suffered a finger injury during the warm-up for their encounter against Burton Albion last Saturday, and he has been ruled out of the World Cup.

Other unexpected omissions from Addo’s 26-man squad this week were Jeffrey Schlupp, Felix Afena-Gyan, Emmanuel Gyasi, and Ransford-Yeboah Konigsdorffer, despite their regular appearances in some of Europe’s best leagues.

With only five players having more than 20 national team appearances, the Black Stars have a young group as they attempt to rebuild after the disastrous AFCON campaign.

Switzerland

In contrast, Yakin has not made many significant exclusions for Switzerland because many of the regulars who have been part of the team since 2014 will be present once more.

From the 2014 team, Granit Xhaka, Ricardo Rodriguez, Yann Sommer, and Haris Seferovic will all compete in their fifth major competitions, while Xherdan Shaqiri will play in his sixth.

There is no room for Kevin Mbabu since he doesn’t get enough playing time at Fulham, and Yvon Mvogo can’t join the team because of an injury despite having a strong start to the year with Lorient.

Steven Zuber, a former regular for AEK Athens, has been left off due to a difficult season.

Switzerland possible starting lineup:

Sommer; Widmer, Akanji, Elvedi, Rodriguez; Freuler, Xhaka, Sow; Shaqiri, Seferovic, Okafor

Ghana possible starting lineup:

Ati-Zigi; Lamptey, Salisu, Djiku, Baba Rahman; Partey, Abdul Samed; J Ayew, Kudus, Sowah; I Williams

How to watch

For viewers in Ghana, Max TV will broadcast the game live while those away from their televisions can also use streaming sites like score808.com to watch the game.