Appiah Will Be Charging Through The Midfield This Summer In South Africa.

Ghana’s Black Stars, who were so wonderful to watch in Germany in 2006, are back for South Africa 2010 and are hungry for more.

Ghana, who will be buoyed by the fact that the World Cup is being hosted on African soil, will play very similarly to they way they did in 2006. They will unfortunately be without Michael Essien, their talismanic midfielder. Despite many believing the team will be in shambles without him, they actually will replace him quite sufficiently.

Ghana strutted their stuff in this year’s African Nations Cup, which was held in January. Ghana reached the final of the tournament, only to be beaten 1-0 by holders Egypt. Despite the loss, Ghana’s impressive showing at that tournament, also without Michael Essien, reflects well on the team and the ambitions they can have going into the World Cup this summer.

At the tournament, a few young players emerged who will play a role for Ghana at this year’s World Cup. Udinese’s Kwadwo Asamoah, Andre Ayew of French side Arles-Avignon, and Dominic Adiyiah, who scored 8 goals in 7 games in the U-20 World Cup, and is now playing for A.C. Milan.

In qualifying, Ghana were grouped with Benin, Mali and Sudan. Ghana’s goals came from just about everywhere, with most of the midfield bagging at least two each.

Ghana’s strongest XI will look something like this:

Kingson – Pantsil, Mensah, Vorsah, Sarpei – Annan, Boateng, Appiah, Muntari – Amoah, Gyan

Ghana’s strength will be in midfield. With the physicality of their players, they will look to boss games and control the play. Stephen Appiah, Ghana’s captain, is the poster-boy of this type of play. Strong, box-to-box midfielders, who possess the technical skills to be able to defend just as well as attack.

While Ghana may be very strong in the center, Ghana’s defense is far from world-class. Germany’s Mesut Ozil will slice them open like a hot knife through butter time and again with his sharp passing, and the off- the-ball movement of a striker like Cacau will tear the Ghanaian back-line to shreads. Kingson, in goal, is far from perfect as well.

Ghana will have an awful time trying to keep Germany out, as long as Germany can take control of the midfield, which will be no easy task.