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Uruguay vs Ghana; Ghana is more relaxed heading into this game thanks to their thrilling 3-2 win over South Korea on Monday. They clearly have more control over their fate than their South American counterpart. For the Black Stars, a win guarantees their place in the last 16 while a draw will have to depend on South Korea failing to have a victory over Portugal.

Uruguay has to win their match against Ghana to qualify. Their win too however has to come up with a condition that South Korea doesn’t beat Portugal or plays a draw against them. The South Americans need bigger wins as in the event that South Korea also wins their match against Portugal, goal difference with the possibility of other tiebreakers might also come into play.

Some half the players in the Uruguayan squad are at the final end of their prime and this very well may be the last ride for them at FIFA World Cup. So can they make it in what could be their last match? Whatever the case, both Ghana and Uruguay are chasing the wins and the fixture in that regard is going to be an exciting one.

Uruguay vs Ghana Recent Team News And Expected Lineups

Ghana is a bit tension free regarding the issue of whether or not they will have their best eleven on the pitch against Uruguay. Mohammed Kudus, the hero of victory over South Korea is definitely starting and so is Atletic Bilbao forward, Inaki Williams. No other men from Ghana could be eager to face Uruguay than the attacking brother duo, Jordan and Andre Ayew. The two had to face a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the South Americans in the 2010 edition of the competition in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, if Ghana has decided on leveling their midfield to 100%, they certainly are going with Arsenal midfielder, Thomas Partey along with Salis Abdul.

Concerning Uruguay, despite being a former European golden boot winner, Luis Suarez hasn’t hit his true potential yet as a result the South Americans have missed a handful of chances to convert over their two previous matches.

He in any case might join his colleague Edinson Cavani and Darwin Nunez to frame a strong attack of a triplet; something that Uruguay would frantically depend on in the match versus Ghana. Yet there is also an equal chance that the two aging forwards will be benched and Nunez gets to work with Tranzonspor forward Maxi Gomez who may have definitely impressed coach Diego Alonso with his performance against Portugal. The other certain starters should be Federico Valverde, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Jose Gimenez. The biggest miss like in the previous two fixtures will be that of Barcelona’s ace defender, Ronald Araujo.

Uruguay vs Ghana Predictions

Uruguay arguably never had the fluidity in their gameplay yet they somehow were still one of the formidable teams among the second-tier favorites. This time however it doesn’t seem to be the case.

While the two-time world champion might appear promising on a number of occasions and they clearly have a higher number of quality players, Ghana seems destined to cut short their hope of advancing to the last 16. That is however until Uruguay comes up with a much more vibrant performance and pulls one or two clutch moments.

But then again, Ghana is one of the boldest teams in this tournament and has a contentious pace and power in the final third. It’s the defensive stubbornness that they mostly lack. There’s also the revenge factor to discuss here. Ghana clearly hasn’t forgotten how the South American star forward Luis Suarez shattered their dreams of making it to the semifinals twelve years ago. The former Barcelona striker thwarted a goal from Ghana with his bare hands on what would have been the Africans winning ticket to their first ever world cup semifinal.

Uruguay’s unusual willingness to move more men in the men which they so rarely do is what we are counting on for Ghana’s victory. This act will certainly leave La Celeste a bit more vulnerable than they would have been in their true defensive format. And as mentioned Ghana is quite pacy when it comes to exploiting mistakes from those areas. An end-to-end action is almost always guaranteed when the opponent is Ghana regardless of the result so do bet on that.

Projected Scoreline: Uruguay 2-3 Ghana 

Uruguay vs Ghana Most Recent Odds

source: bet 365

Uruguay vs Ghana Previous Stats Of Each Team

Fun Fact

Uruguay hasn’t said goodbye to the World Cup from the group stage since 2002. The Korea-Japan tournament was the first time La Celeste was knocked out from the initial phase since 1974.