Brazil 2014: Group G Preview
A tough group is Group G, 2nd after England’s Group D according to FIFA’s rankings. It contains a potential winner in Germany, and also contains Portugal, the USA and Ghana.
Germany. 3 times winners of the tournament, and semi-finalists in the last World Cups. Plenty of confidence and ability in the team, and Joachim Low’s team will be able to score, keeping clean sheets is not so assured.
Star man. Lazio’s Miroslav Klose. Will be eyeing Ronaldo’s goal-scoring record in the finals. Unexpected hero? Erik Durm of Borussia Dortmund, the 22 year-old will be looking to impress.
Portugal. Expect the unexpected! A difficult group where both USA and Ghana will be looking at Portugal’s expected 2nd place. Can they score goals? Nullify Cristiano Ronaldo and then you’ll stand an opportunity. Difficult to see where the goals will come from otherwise.
Star man. Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid is important to everything that Portugal does. Unexpected hero? William Carvalho who plays for Sporting Lisbon. Maybe be bound for the English Premier. The 22 year old has played just the 4 games for Portugal.
USA. Not easy to offer an opinion on how they’ll do. this is their 7th consecutive appearance in the finals and their players have plenty of experience playing at the top in Europe, as well as playing in their domestic league. Key game will be against Ghana.
Star man. Michael Bradley who plays for Toronto in Canada. The 26 year old has the accolade of midfield general, and the 12 goals in 86 internationals proves that he something else to contribute. Unexpected hero? Julian Green. The 19 year old midfielder is one of the youngest players at the tournament, and the Bayern Munich player might well be a surprise.
Ghana. Just about the whole squad ply their trade in Europe, from Russia to England. 57th in the FIFA rankings, so not expected to do much, but could be a surprised package to get to the next round, despite this being a tough group. They have some good players, but is their enough in depth quality?
Star man. Michael Essien, now of AC Milan. The 31 year old midfielder has played 58 international games and scoring 9 goals. Does he still have the knoweledge? Unexpected hero? Acquah Afriyie, the 22 year old midfielder plays for Parma in Italy.
Predictions. 1st Germany, 2nd USA, 3rd Portugal and 4th Ghana.
| 16 June 2014 | Germany 4 v Portugal 0 | 17:00 | ITV | Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador |
| 16 June 2014 | Ghana 1 v USA 2 | 23:00 | BBC 1 | Estadio das Dunas, Natal |
| 21 June 2014 | Germany v Ghana | 20:00 | BBC 1 | Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza |
| 22 June 2014 | USA v Portugal | 23:00 | BBC 1 | Arena Amazonia, Manaus |
| 26 June 2014 | USA v Germany | 17:00 | BBC | Arena Pernambuco, Recife |
| 26 June 2014 | Portugal v Ghana | 17:00 | BBC | Estadio Nacional, Brasilia |
Fixtures