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Ghana face Portugal, Uruguay, S. Korea …in Qatar World Cup fixtures

Ghana will face Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea in the group-stage of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup competition after a dicey draw expected to revive some sad memories about Ghana’s participation at the Mundial.

Yesterday’s draw in Qatar was witnessed by FIFA President, Gianni Infantino and other top football officials across the various continents including Ghana’s FA boss and assistant, Kurt Okraku and Mark Addo as well as the General Secretary, Prosper Harrison Addo.

Ghana will play Portugal on November 24, face South Korea on November 28 before facing Uruguay on December 2.

For the Black Stars and Ghanaian local fans, it will represent an opportunity to avenge painful defeats administered by Uruguay and Portugal in their 2010 and 2014 campaigns in South Africa and Brazil, respectively.

Ghana exited the South Africa edition in 2010 under painful circumstances when a Black Stars semi-final berth was thwarted by Uruguay striker, Luis Suarez who blocked a goal bound Dominic Adiyiah header with the hand.

Suarez was shown the exit but a penalty awarded Ghana from the incident was blown away by Ghana striker, Asamoah Gyan with Ghana subsequently losing on penalty shoot-outs.

In 2014, a Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal crush Ghana’s campaign and was unable to qualify for the next edition in Russia.

Facing Uruguay and Portugal would therefore get the Stars into a ‘war’ mood to avenge those painful defeats as well as annexing the points in the game against South Korea who would be considered as minnows just like the Black Stars.

Senegal was paired in a relatively easy group A that had Qatar, Equador and the Netherlands, Tunisia was drawn against Denmark, France and another qualifier from a play-off yet to be played.

Cameroon attracted Switzerland, Serbia and Brazil while Morocco are set to face Croatia, Canada and Belgium.

Deputy skipper of the Black Stars, Richard Ofori, in an interview with the media described the draw as a good one, reports RAYMOND ACKUMEY.

“Well, it is a good draw for us; I think all the teams in there are somewhat on an equal footing. In today’s football world, there is no small country so we must come together and prepare well for the task ahead.

For midfielder Joseph Painstil, the draw was a favourale one for Ghana, adding that with a little push, Ghana can make it out of the group stages.

“The group has countries that have good players and I believe it would come down to individual players; this is where I think our determination will see us through.”

BY ANDREW NORTEY

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