Ghana-Jamaica: Analysis by Fan

Ghana beat a Jamaican side that were a bit tired and unsettled in the first half. Apparently they had travel problems and were stuck in traffic. It was evident in the first 30 mins they were tired and unsettled.

I think, the real test would be their match against Korea. I expect Korea to be fast paced and full of energy from the onset.

Appiah is just a phenomenon. Ball control, coordination, passes etc etc. but then that was expected.

Essien on the other hand wasnt quiet there. i think the guy is not very fit after his recent injury and may need time. He plays as if he is desperately trying to avoid injury. Not in anyway like a guy they call ?the bison?.

One guy who really caught my eye was Habib Mohamed. I was impressed with his display. he shd definitely be a starter. Very comfortable at the back, good ball control, very confident and sure of himself.

Dan Quaye was also impressive and did very well. Ive always thought he should definitely be a starter anytime we play. You could tell kuffour's best days are behind him but his experience is evident as he clears balls cleanly and gets out of trouble fast without committing himself too much.

Ghana's Achilles? heel is really free kicks and set pieces. We never seem to get it right anytime and we dont seem to have done much work on that since we met the Nigerians at the African cup. I find it very sad, as I know the Italians will exploit that big time.I am not a coach or an expert trainer but if i were an italian coach, i would tell Del pierro and totti to threaten the Ghana defense as much as possible to get ourselves a penalty or free-kick, that will almost definitely give the goals.

One thing that is also so obvious is that we do not have any credible strikers. that still remains problem. Amoah shows that he can do damage if given a chance but Gyan is obviously a novice although talented. The jamaican defense were shoving him away very easily. what he lacks in height advantage hasnt been converted into pace, agility, power or awareness. Unlike Amoah he is not a hard worker too and doesn?t fight for balls.I wonder how they would cope against the always formidable Italian defense.

I am a big fan of John Mensah but he wasnt really at it today at all.

I think Richard Kingston is a better bet than Sammy Adjei. Sammy fumbles a lot any time he makes a safe, it's kinda panicky. You always miss a heartbeat when he saves a ball. In the second half i saw glimses of Derek Boateng that gave me hope that he can actually play well if given the chance, that is encouraging because the Derek i knew then was very promising. I was impressed with his touches and ball control.

Hans sarpei, Pimpong, Dramani, Otto Addo were all a waste of time. Then again they only came on in the last 8 mins or so, so I wouldn't hold anything against them if they made no impact whatsoever.