{"id":1227085,"date":"2022-10-18T00:48:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T00:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/10\/18\/ghana-might-not-qualify-from-the-group-phase-of-the-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2022-10-18T00:48:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T00:48:12","slug":"ghana-might-not-qualify-from-the-group-phase-of-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/10\/18\/ghana-might-not-qualify-from-the-group-phase-of-the-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghana might not qualify from the group phase of the World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">&#8211;  &#8211;<\/span><br \/>\n<!-- ResponsiveAll --><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Former Ghana international, Nii Odartey Lamptey, says he doubts the Black Stars can go beyond the group stage of the 2019 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The West African countries have made a comeback to the Mundial after failing to feature in the previous edition played in Russia in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>After a two-legged draw, the Black Stars earn qualifying at the cost of Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in a yet-to-be-televised interview on Prime Take, Odartey claimed Uruguay and Portugal had progressed since the Black Stars last met them in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups respectively.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">&#8211;  &#8211;<\/span><br \/>\n<!-- ResponsiveAll --><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I saw the group [Ghana was drawn in], personally I wasn\u2019t happy,\u201d the 1991 FIFA Youth Best Player said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would have preferred to be in a group that we have never played with them at the World Cup level before,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">&#8211;  &#8211;<\/span><br \/>\n<!-- ResponsiveAll --><\/p>\n<p>Since the 2010 World Cup semifinalists have not improved to the point where they can compete with the best in the world, Odartey, who revealed in the conversation that he retired from the national team in 1996 due to player politics, is concerned that they may struggle when facing familiar foes at the Mundial.<\/p>\n<p>READ ALSO:\u00a0Otto Addo doesn\u2019t even know his first 11; he should be replaced with Chris Hughton else danger will happen at Qatar \u2013 Super Obondede<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reason is, football has grown in these countries. I look at Portugal now and they have improved massively since we last played them so playing them again for the second time at the World Cup will be a problem for us, likewise Uruguay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When quizzed has not improved, he said \u201cwe haven\u2019t grown but I think we have materials that suggest we can grow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe technical team is an excellent group: Otto [Addo], Boateng [George], Chris [Hughton], Didi [Dramani], very good blend, but the problem is a young squad which has never played a competition like this before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe, ten of them have been to the [African] Cup of Nations before, but how many of them have played together in a tournament?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, playing very experienced countries, both Uruguay and Portugal, for me it\u2019s a problem. I pray that we cross the group on the stage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have the quality to progress beyond the group stage but my only question mark is the teams that we are facing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Group G features Portugal and Uruguay, two teams the Black Stars will be acquainted with from the 2014 and 2010 World Cups, respectively, when they were eliminated in the round of 16 and the penalty shootout, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Also participating in the competition beginning on November 20 is South Korea.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">&#8211;  &#8211;<\/span><br \/>\n<!-- ResponsiveAll --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8211; &#8211; Former Ghana international, Nii Odartey Lamptey, says he doubts the Black Stars can go beyond the group stage of the 2019 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The West African countries have made a comeback to the Mundial after failing to feature in the previous edition played in Russia in 2018. After a two-legged [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1227087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[262,85,516,4342,2251,784],"class_list":["post-1227085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-cup","tag-ghana","tag-group","tag-phase","tag-qualify","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1227085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1227085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1227085\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1227085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1227085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1227085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}