Switzerland Vs Ghana: 2022 World Cup warm-up probable team news and lineup

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Ghana will travel to the Middle East following a 2022 that has seen the Black Stars suffer many ups and downs.

The Africa Cup of Nations at the start of the year proved disastrous, and cost Milovan Rajevac, the man who took them to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2010, his job.

A defeat to Morocco was no surprise, but failing to beat a Gabon side without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang before losing to debutants Comoros was a national humiliation.

With Rajevac on his way out, Otto Addo came in to guide them through the World Cup playoffs, which would come just two months later.

The debacle at AFCON was soon forgotten though, as Ghana pulled off a surprise in drawing 1-1 in Nigeria to claim a place at the World Cup on away goals.

Recent September friendlies also provided mixed results, as they comfortably lost to Brazil before beating Nicaragua.

Switzerland offer a better middle ground in terms of testing the Black Stars, as they are on a similar level to Portugal and Uruguay, two of the sides Ghana will face in the group stage next week.

For the Swiss, life after Vladimir Petkovic truly starts here, as Murat Yakin prepares for his first major tournament in charge of the European nation.

First-choice goalkeeper Jojo Wollacott has been ruled out of the World Cup after injuring his finger in the stoppage-time match between Charlton Athletic and Burton Albion last weekend.

Elsewhere, Addo made some notable snubs in selecting his 26-man squad this week as Jeffrey Schlupp, Felix Afena-Gyan, Emmanuel Gyasi and Ransford-Yeboah Konigsdorffer were left out despite featuring frequently in some of Europe’s top leagues.

It is an inexperienced squad with only five players having made more than 20 caps for the national team as the Black Stars look to overhaul their squad after AFCON turmoil.

Meanwhile, for Switzerland, Yakin hasn’t made many notable omissions as plenty of regulars who have been with the team since 2014 will be around again.

Granit Xhaka, Ricardo Rodriguez, Yann Sommer and Haris Seferovic are among those from the 2014 squad who will be making their fifth major tournament appearance, while Xherdan Shaqiri is on his sixth.

Kevin Mbaba’s lack of game time at Fulham means there is no place for him, while injury has cost Yvon Mvogo a place in the squad despite a brilliant start to the season with Lorient.

A difficult season for former regular Steven Zuber at AEK Athens means the left winger has also been left out.

Switzerland possible starting lineup:

Sommer; Widmer, Akanji, Elvedi, Rodriguez; Freuler, Xhaka, Sow; Shaqiri, Seferovic, Okafor

Ghana possible starting lineup:

Ati-Zigi; Lamptey, Salisu, Djiku, Baba Rahman; Partey, Idrissu; J Ayew, Kudus, Sulemana; I Williams

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