Bar two shock results from Saudi Arabia and Japan, the first round of games in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar prior to Ghana’s opening game against Portugal, were largely forgettable. Saudi Arabia going down by a goal in the first half against Argentina made the middle eastern country’s victory over the Lionel Messi-led group the more perplexing.
Eight players in the Japan team ply their trade in the Bundesliga and they made their familiarity with the German style count by delivering an efficient performance to stun a highly regarded rebuilding team. However, every element that makes football such a glorious sport was delivered in the Ghana-Portugal game.
Controversy, brilliant play, goals (five of them in all), fracases between players, mistakes from both sets of players and a handful of football celebrities and legends were produced in abundance. There is a solid argument to be made about the legitimacy of Rafael Leao’s goal (Portugal’s third in all) but the AC Milan forward’s goal was a legit goal.
On the flip side, the penalty on Mohammed Salisu was flat-out wrong, considering the Southampton defender didn’t extend his forearm in his challenge on Ronaldo and won a fair share of the ball to avoid that call being a penalty offence. In the EPL, VAR offside lines are two, a blue one and a red one, with the latter indicating a clear offside infringement.
The Inaki Williams slip, Osman Bukari’s awkward goal celebration and Ronaldo’s historic moment of becoming the first man to score in five different World Cups made this game by far the best in the first round of games played out in Qatar. Looking at what Ghana has delivered in the World Cup since making its debut in 2006, FIFA should just hand out a wildcard to the World Cup to the Black Stars the same way elite players get through the back door to the majors in tennis.
However, this game was won by Portugal and lost by Ghana due to a few minutes of in-game adjustments by Ghana head coach Otto Addo. The young tactician did well to get Ghana to the World Cup on the back of a disastrous campaign at the 2021 AFCON and at the expense of the fancied Nigerians. He did great with his choice of Alidu Seidu as the starting right wing-back, as the young defender excelled on both sides of the field, as did the introduction of Osman Bukari but the Borussia Dortmund trainer missed out on a few details that cost Ghana in the end.
The margins are ultra-fine at this stage of football competition and here are three areas in which Otto Addo missed the mark.
Not making Thomas Partey the midfield pivot
Addo’s 5-4-1 system that had Kudus Mohammed deployed on the right side of the four-man midfield unit made for a poor fit for Kudus, and for a guy like Otto, who thrives on having balance in his team, that was a big miss. However, in the flow of the game, Addo made adjustments and pushed Andre Ayew upfield to pair with Inaki Williams in a 5-3-2 system with Kudus deployed on the left side of the three-man midfield. This sort of role suits Kudus well as his versatile game can fully function in the Mezzala role-playing on the left side in a three-man midfield.
However, Ghana lacked a deep-lying playmaker, as Salis Samed manned the middle with Thomas Partey operating on the right. As solid as Samed was, he isn’t a playmaker and this affected Partey’s performance. The great AC Milan teams of the mid-2000’s used this same three-man midfield with Clarence Seedorf out on the left side with Andrea Pirlo in the middle and Gennaro Gattuso on the right side. Pirlo controlled the game’s pace and started Milan’s attacks while Gattuso provided the steel in the team and Seedorf did Kudus stuff.