World Cup
2010-06-13 - Serbia vs Ghana
A Sports Betting Pick by Niko
Football : FIFA World Cup 2010 : Group D
Sunday, 13th June 2010 – kickoff 16:00
Serbia (FIFA Rank: 15th)
Serbia will appear in this World Cup for the first time as an independent nation after they have finished as number one in their qualifying group before France.
Serbian national team have what it takes to be one of the surprises at this tournament that can go far in the knockout stages. Despite their mixed results and some shocking results in the friendly matches (1-0 loss to New Zealand at neutral venue), this team will look quite different with the start of the World Cup. I consider this to be a very tight and equal group and maybe only Germany have some small advantage over the other teams.
A very good preparation match for the Serbian national team was the last one against Cameroon which they have won 4-3 and that match showed team`s weaknesses and strengths playing against physical African sides, which should be very helpful in front of this important first group match against Ghana.
Coach Radomir Antic is a great tactician and a motivator and has been a coach of the three biggest clubs in Spain-Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. The defense is particularly tight and Antic will use Chelsea`s Branislav Ivanovic and Manchester United`s Nemanja Vidic as central defenders and Aleksandar Lukovic and Aleksandar Kolarov as side backs.
Milos Krasic is currently one of the best attacking midfielders, and there are reports that he will join Juventus after the World Cup. In a standard 4-4-2 formation he will play as a right winger. For this match the two strikers will be Marko Pantelic (Ajax) and Nikola Zigic (played for Valencia, will play for Birmingham City from the start of the next season).
Interesting fact is that Serbia will be the tallest team at this World Cup with average height of 1,86 m, so they will probably use that as a strength playing with long balls and lots of headers. Pay attention to Nikola Zigic who is the tallest player at the tournament (even higher than Peter Crouch) with 2,02 m, but he is very quick and easily creates chances.
Ghana (FIFA Rank: 32nd )
Ghana looked pretty strong at the last WC 2006 in Germany where they were the only African team to go past the group stages, but unfortunately they had to face Brazil and got knocked of the tournament but they gave good resistance in that match particularly in the first half.
Bad news for the squad is that they will have to play in this tournament without their star player Michael Essien who is recovering from injury. However, the team has several very good youngsters in the squad that helped the team to reach the African Cup of Nations final last January in Angola.
Ghana will also play in a formation with two strikers- Prince Tagoe (had a very good season with Hoffenheim) and Asamoah Gyan (Rennes). Sulley Muntari (Inter) should play more defensively in the middle and the young and pretty fast Kwadwo Asamoah will be the playmaker behind the strikers.
Interesting fact is that the coach Milovan Rajevac is a Serb and he knows Serbian players very well.
In the last three friendly matches before the start of the World Cup, Ghana managed to get 1-0 win over Latvia, but lost heavily 4-1 to Netherlands and were also beaten 2-1 by Bosnia.
The Betting Verdict
This is probably the most crucial group match for both sides.
Serbia will have to face Germany in the second round and Ghana will play Australia, so both teams will push to get a win so they will ease off the pressure before the remaining games.
Ghana are a strong team but i do not think that they can repeat the success from the last World Cup. Essien`s injury might be crucial for this team`s chances of progression. There are other very good and talented players in the team that helped this team to get in the African Nations Cup final last January but most of them are still young and inexperienced.
On the other side, Serbia does not have any problems with injured players, team motivation is high but this team can be very unpredictable. Sometimes they will roll over easily over very strong opponent and when no one expects they will lose badly by a lower side. Usually this team has problems when they go down by a goal, almost never recovers and gets from behind.
However, i think that Serbia will tightens its defense and will rely a lot on Jovanovic and Krasic at the wings who should create many chances for the strikers. Ghana will probably play the same way like in the friendly matches-mostly through the middle where Asamoah is dangerous playmaker, but i think that their defense is the weakest part of the team.
Having all in mind, i think that Serbia will have the edge and get the first win in this group, which may (or may not) be the first surprise at this tournament.
The Pick :
Serbia 2-1 Ghana
