Ghana vs Nigeria
FreeToday’s featured game is the African Nations Semi-Final between Ghana and Nigeria. I could accept Ghana reaching this stage of the competition because they do have some quality players. However, the loss of Essien for this game is a big blow so we’ll need to see how they cope without him. However, Nigeria are simply not good enough to be here. Their name alone is not enough here and I suspect they’ll get found out tonight.
Ghana have been playing better football than Nigeria in this tournament and frankly have better players. Despite a 3-1 defeat against Ivory Coast in their opening game, Ghana haven’t conceded a goal in their following African Nations games and they’ve won both of those games 1-0. I don’t class either opponent as particularly good but they’re both feisty sides and Angola were the hosts so that’s never an easy game. Ghana have got proven good players in their side like Gyan, Mensah, Amoah, and Annan. They bring some good momentum into this game and have been in a similar position before so they’ve got the necessary experience here. Frankly, I rate Ghana as a better outfit than Nigeria at the present time and I do expect them to win this game.
Nigeria have performed exactly as I thought they would in this tournament – unconvincingly. They’ve already been torn apart by reigning champions Egypt and managed to labour their way past an energetic but naive Zambia via a penalty shootout in the Quarter-Finals. Nigeria have some good individuals – Yakubu, A.Yussuf, Odemwingie, Martins – but don’t play well as team. Nigeria are a big name in African football but they’ve not been playing like a big nation in recent times and I do think that they’ll get caught out tonight by a better side in Ghana. Nigeria miss Onyekachi for this game, who was dismissed last match, and Nigeria have a day less to prepare for this game than Ghana as Ghana played on the sunday and Nigeria played on the monday.
All in all, I can only see one winner to this game and that’s Ghana. I think it’ll be a closely-fought game and we’ll possibly see some cards between two giants of African football but only Ghana stand out for me here; Nigeria simply aren’t good enough as a unit. A draw is possible but there’s value on the home win so I’m happy to call it!
Verdict: Ghana to win at 7/5.
Thursday’s Picks
My tips:
Nothing else today I’m afraid guys! The full picks listing is below though.
African Nations:
Ghana vs Nigeria (7) 1-0
Algeria vs Egypt (5) 1-1, at least one red card in this game
Copa Libertadores:
Atletico Junior Barranquilla vs Racing Club Montevideo (7) 2-1, at least one red card in this game
Portuguese Liga de Honra:
Beira-Mar vs Porimonense (5)
Enjoy your free betting tips!