Portugal v Ghana FIFA World Cup 2022 after Ronaldo’s BOMBSHELL interview, match predictions & preview inside

Portugal v Ghana FIFA World Cup 2022 match preview: Portugal will face off against Ghana, an African superpower, on 24 November, in an effort to get their FIFA World Cup 2022 campaign off to a strong start. Cristiano Ronaldo and his team will be the centre of attention as they attempt to establish their dominance over the competition. Additionally, this will be Ronaldo's first game since his recent interview, which infuriated Manchester United's management. Here is match preview and predictions, squad and everything you need to know about the key matchup, with Ghana aiming for an upset.

Portugal Form at FIFA WC 2022

Ronaldo, the five-time winner of the Ballon d'Or after repeated World Cup setbacks will be anxious to help Portugal finally win the big one. Despite being a well-known footballing nation, Portugal has only been to the World Cup semifinals twice, in 1966 and 2006, and they haven't advanced past the round of 16 in four of their last five competitions. A Selecao lost to fellow Group H opponents Uruguay in the round of 16 at the World Cup finals in Russia in 2018, and they have only managed to win three of their past 11 games there. However, they did a great job of preparing for the competition by crushing Nigeria 4-0 earlier. Santos's team has struggled to win any of their last three opening games on the biggest international stage, so fast starts have not been a theme for Portugal at the World Cup. Ghana will need to put on their best shooting boots if they hope to get past a Portuguese defence that has only allowed two goals in their last seven games.

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Ghana Form in QATAR

Ghana has their sights set in Group H. Uruguay has been waiting patiently to keep the Black Stars from making it to the semifinals but Ghana is getting ready for its fourth World Cup appearance since 2006. The African nation has only been eliminated once at the group stage. On December 2, the two sides will resume hostilities. Earlier this year, before Ghana football manager Otto Addo took over, the Black Stars also lost all three of their games at the Africa Cup of Nations. Ghana entered the World Cup having won seven of their last eight games across all competitions, keeping clean sheets in all of those victories, and only losing to Brazil during that run. They also impressively defeated Switzerland 2-0 in a friendly last week.

Portugal vs. Ghana Head-to-Head

At this level of football, Portugal and Ghana are not complete strangers. At the 2014 World Cup, Ronaldo helped the A Selecao defeat the Black Stars 2-1, and a similar performance in Qatar would help him in his quest to once again make headlines for the right reasons.

When is the match?

The Portugal vs Ghana FIFA World Cup 2022 Match 15 will be played on Thursday (November 24) at 9:30 PM IST at the Stadium 974 in Doha. Portugal vs Ghana FIFA World Cup 2022 Match 15 will be broadcasted on Fox Sports, Telemundo in Qatar, Viacom 18 (Sports 18) in India, on BBC and ITV in England, Fox and Telemundo in USA and SBS in Australia.

Predicted lineup

Portugal possible predicted lineup: Costa; Cancelo, Pepe, Dias, Guerreiro; Neves, Carvalho, Fernandes; B. Silva, Ronaldo, Leao

Ghana possible starting lineup: Ati Zigi; Lamptey, Amartey, Djiku, Baba; Partey, Abdul Samed; Sulemana, Kudus, J. Ayew; Williams

Portugal vs Ghana Squad list

Portugal

Goalkeepers:Diogo Costa (Porto), Jose Sa (Wolves), Rui Patricio (Roma)

Defenders:Diogo Dalot (Manchester United), Joao Cancelo (Manchester City), Danilo Pereira (PSG), Pepe (Porto), Ruben Dias (Manchester City), Antonio Silva (Benfica), Nuno Mendes (PSG), Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfielders:Joao Palhinha (Fulham), Ruben Neves (Wolves), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Joao Mario (Benfica), Matheus Nunes (Wolves), Otavio Monteiro (Porto), Vitinha (PSG), William Carvalho (Real Betis)

Forwards:Andre Silva (RB Leipzig), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Goncalo Ramos (Benfica), Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid), Rafael Leao (AC Milan), Ricardo Horta (Braga)

Ghana

Goalkeepers:Manaf Nurudeen (Eupen), Danlad Ibrahim (Asante Kotoko) Lawrence Ati Zigi (St Gallen)

Defenders:Denis Odoi (Fulham), Tariq Lamptey (Brighton), Alidu Seidu (Clermont), Daniel Amartey (Leicester), Joseph Aidoo (Celta Vigo), Alexander Djiku (Strasbourg), Mohammed Salisu (Southampton) Abdul-Rahman Baba (Reading) Gideon Mensah (Auxerre)

Midfielders:Andre Ayew (Al-Sadd) Thomas Partey (Arsenal) Elisha Owusu (Gent), Salis Abdul Samed (Lens), Mohammed Kudus (Ajax), Daniel Kofi Kyereh (Freiburg)

Forwards:Daniel Barnieh Afriyie (Hearts of Oak), Kamal Sowah (Club Brugge), Issahaku Abdul Fatawu (Sporting Lisbon), Osman Bukari (Red Star Belgrade), Inaki Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Antoine Semenyo (Bristol City), Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace) Kamaldeen Sulemana (Rennes)