Ghana set to play Holland in World Cup friendly tonight

Published on: 01 June 2010

Holland are getting ready to take on Ghana in a World Cup warm up match at home in Rotterdam on Tuesday night (18.30 GMT).

Ghana will be without Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien as he’s been ruled out of the World Cup due to a serious knee injury.

But manager Milovan Rajevac plans to give the rest of his players a chance to earn spots in their opening World Cup match against Serbia on June 13.

They will then face Germany and Australia in the remaining Group G matches.

This means players such as Portsmouth’s Kevin-Prince Boateng, Sunderland’s John Mensah and Fulham’s John Pantsil will need to impress the boss.

Rajevac added that everybody will get a chance to play in the last two friendlies, as the team will also take on Latvia on June 5 in Milton Keynes, England before heading to South Africa.

Ghana will need to keep an eye on the defensive side of the game as Holland has several players who can put the ball in the net when given the chance.

The Dutch will need to be wary of striker Matthew Amoah, who plays his football in Holland with Breda. He led Ghana with five goals in the 2010 qualifiers.

Holland and Ghana met once before, back in 1998 in Arnhem, and played to a 0-0 draw.

Holland is ranked at fourth in the World by FIFA and will be playing in their ninth World Cup. They sit at fifth favourites to win the World Cup.

However, Dutch manager Bert van Marwijk won’t be risking any of his injured players ahead of the World Cup 2010.

This means it’s doubtful that winger Arjen Robben of Bayern Munich will see much action, if any at all, because of a slight hip problem, even though he’s been training with the 23-man squad in Austria in preparation for the game.

Van Marwijk said it would probably be decided just before the game if Robben plays, but the manager doesn’t want to take the risk if he doesn’t have to.

Holland beat Mexico 2-1 in their last game on May 26 thanks to a pair of goals by Arsenal striker Robin van Persie, who’s back in fine form after missing most of the season due to a bad ankle injury.

The striker did put a scare into his manager and teammates though as he twisted his ankle during training and had to ice it down.

Van Marwijk would like to see both Robben and van Persie get some playing time in before the club’s first World Cup game on June 14 against Denmark, but Holland has one more friendly left, against Hungary on June 5 in which both players can get some action in if they have problems against Ghana.

Holland also takes on Japan and Cameroon in Group E and the game against African Nations Cup finalists Ghana should be a good test for them.

Probable Ghana team:

Kingson, Pantsil, Sarpei, Jonathan Mensah, John Mensah, Appiah, Abeyie, Kwadwo Asamoah, Kevin Boateng, Muntari, Amoah,

Probable Dutch team:

Stekelenburg, Boulahrouz, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Braafheid, De Jong, Scanty, Kuijt,Van der Vaart, Afellay; Van Persie.

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