On Thursday afternoon, Portugal and Ghana begin their World Cup campaigns, as the pair clash in Group H of the competition.
Portugal form guideThe Selecao qualified for the World Cup via the play-offs after finishing in second place in Group A behind Serbia. A brace from Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes in a 2-0 play-off win over North Macedonia booked Portugal’s place at World Cup 2022.
Portugal will feature in their eighth World Cup, which is also their sixth straight participation in the competition. The Selecao’s best performance at a World Cup came in the 1966 tournament in England when a team led by the great Eusebio finished third place.
Their recent international form has been mixed of late, as they have won two and lost two of their last four matches.
Star forward Cristiano Ronaldo has been in the news lately due to his situation at his club Manchester United. Despite not featuring in Portugal’s last game, the veteran star should start this one.
GhanaThe Black Stars won their group in African qualifying before winning a play-off game against Nigeria on away goals, losing just one of their eight games in qualifying, so they have been relatively hard to beat.
Ghana will be playing at their fourth World Cup. They failed to qualify for the last World Cup but had featured in the previous three editions. The furthest that Ghana has gone into the competition was in 2010 when they made it to the quarter-finals, only to suffer an exit via a penalty shootout against Uruguay in the last eight.
Otto Addo’s team heads to Qatar on the back of five wins in their previous seven international outings. Ghana’s defence has been superb of late, as they have kept clean sheets in seven of their last eight matches.
What am I backing?Portugal has not been that consistent of late, while Ghana are defensively solid. However, I am backing Portugal to record a narrow victory, as they have an excellent group of attacking players who should be able to penetrate that stellar defence.