England – Ghana

The first half of Ghana's match against the group favorite will end in defeat.

The England national team arrived at the World Cup in great spirits. With no points dropped and no goals conceded, the Three Lions advanced through European qualifying and were placed by bookmakers among the top 3 favorites to win the World Cup. The way its squad is being formed reveals a coaching philosophy that is extremely valuable in modern football. As Thomas Tuchel said, he wasn't going to take into the team all the stars who hold English nationality, so as not to have to figure out later how to assemble them on the field into a cohesive unit. Thus, to North America with England did not fly Cole Palmer, whose vacation photos with a busty beauty are currently circulating on social networks, Phil Foden and a few other players of the highest class. Instead of those star players, Tuchel took 'workhorses', such as Elliott Anderson from Nottingham Forest, who brilliantly played in the holding midfield role against Croatia alongside Declan Rice. The match against the Balkan side turned out to be very uplifting for England. If in the first half some defensive lapses prevented England from taking the lead by halftime, the second half of the game by the English became exemplary. The final score of 4-2 underscored Tuchel's team's two-goal lead over Croatia, not only on the scoreboard but also in terms of what was happening on the pitch. The victory over Ghana, with a high degree of probability, guarantees England the top spot in the group after the second matchday and will allow reallocation of resources in the final quartet match against Panama, giving rest for the team's leaders before the Round of 16. Ghana's team won the African qualifiers, competing in the same group as Mali and Madagascar. Facing a team of this caliber in the opening group-stage match, the Ghanaians managed to edge Panama in the dying minutes - 1:0. The main star in the current Ghana squad is Manchester City winger Antoine Semenyo, who did not perform at his best against Panama. Other stars of the Ghana team, such as Jordan Ayew, who played almost the entire first-round match, are getting on in years. England have enough quality to beat Ghana already in the first half.