Ghana in the Qatar 2022 World Cup: Everything You Need to Know 

The Qatar 2022 World Cup was relatively uneventful for Ghana as they crashed out of the competition after a two-nil loss to their 2010 nemesis, Uruguay. This year's world cup outing is the nation's fourth appearance, having featured in the 2006, 2010, and 2014 editions. 2010 remains Ghana’s best World Cup tournament. The team qualified for the quarterfinals that year but lost out on advancing to the semifinals after missing a tournament-highlight penalty against Uruguay. 

Ghanaian supporters were hoping for revenge by knocking out the South American side this year. However, this year's match was similar to the 2010 incident, as Ghana again missed a penalty and gave Uruguay the win. Some sections of the fans would, however, still celebrate that they prevented Uruguay from qualifying by denying them the third goal that would have pushed them above South Korea in goal difference.

In reality, it was already far from certain that the black stars would make it beyond the group stage since the start of the tournament, especially given that they were in the same group as Portugal and Uruguay. Given the current quality of the Ghanaian national team group, dreaming about winning the world cup would be luxury fans cannot afford. In fact, some people considered it a miracle that the team secured a place in the World Cup.

Road to Qatar: Qualification Journey

The dramatic 1-1 draw against Nigeria, which saw Ghana qualify on away goals, was the highlight of Ghana's qualification campaign. Their previous meeting with the African giant ended goalless in Ghana, putting them in a difficult position. They now had to pull off an upset against Nigeria, who were playing at home. However, they were fortunate to escape an away goal after the Nigerian and Napoli striker Victor Osimhen saw his goal ruled out for offside by the VAR. 

Their preceding qualifying round matches saw them record four victories out of six against Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. They then proceeded to pull off an upset against their African rival, Nigeria, to make it to the world cup. Overall, qualifying for the world cup was exciting for Ghanaian fans and punters, as the nation failed to make it through in the previous edition in 2018. It would be ridiculous to bet on them winning the trophy despite that. Well, the World Cup is just getting heated up, and you can visit https://parimatch.ng/page/is-parimatch-safe to wager on your favorite teams and players.    

World Cup Performance

The Ghanaian national team began their World Cup campaign with a 3-2 loss to Portugal in Group H. Although the black stars started the game strongly, conceding no goals in the first half, they could not hold off the Portuguese team for long, as they conceded three goals in the second half. The first goal came in the 65th minute when the legendary superstar Cristiano Ronaldo slotted one home from the penalty spot. With that goal, he became the only player in world cup history to score in five different tournaments.

In the 73rd minute of the match, André Ayew restored Ghana's hope of coming off with at least a point when he tucked in a close-range finish after a low cross from Ajax's young prospect, Mohammed Kudus. Their hope was, however, short-lived as the Portuguese side responded with two goals in quick succession barely five minutes after Ghana's equalizer. Even though Osman Bukari put one away for the Ghanaian side in the 89th minute, they could not take any points away from the match, as all other efforts to find a third goal proved abortive. 

The tournament's second match saw them record a 3-2 victory against South Korea, which was the least favorite team in the group. Building on this victory with a win against Uruguay would have seen them qualify with six points to the next stage of the competition. However, The South American side, who were yet to record any victory in their two previous group stage matches, came out with a resounding 2-0 victory against the Black Stars. 

Overall, the Qatar 2022 World Cup has been filled with surprises, with underdog teams such as Japan qualifying over Germany, Morocco finishing first in their group, and Australia qualifying over Denmark. Among all of these upsets, Ghanaian fans would have a glimmer of hope that the black stars of Ghana will pull off an upset and qualify alongside Portugal in Group H. That, however, was not the case. Instead, South Korea, who many felt had no chance of making it out of the group at the start of the campaign, pulled the upset to qualify with Portugal. 

The Ghanaian national team will be looking to hire another coach, perhaps a more experienced manager after the current manager Otto Addo announced his resignation upon the nation's exit from the world cup.

Individual Performances

One of the ultimate footballing dreams for any player is to play in the World Cup. For young Ghanaian stars like Mohammed Kudus, this world cup would be one to remember. Despite the fairly disappointing performance of the team, the youngster delivered quite impressive performances across the three matches played. With two goals and an assist to his name, he is truly a beam of hope for the future.

With veterans like Thomas Partey and the Ayews nearing the end of their footballing careers, the next Ghanian team coach will be looking to build the team around players like Mohammed kudus, alongside some other impressive talents like Inaki Williams and Mohammed Salisu, who also had decent world cup outings.

Conclusion

Ghana's early exit from the 2022 world cup is a disappointment to Ghanaians and African football as a whole. However, impressive performances from young talents like Mohammed Kudus and Salisu are positive indications of a better performance in future tournaments. 

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