Antoine Semenyo celebrates Ghana's late winner over Panama.placeholder image
Antoine Semenyo celebrates Ghana's late winner over Panama. | Getty Images
Just how worried should England be about Ghana? Form and fitness suggest an easy win - but Antoine Semenyo may have other ideas.
“We have to suffer. There is no other way.” That was the message from Ghana head coach Carlos Quieroz following his side’s last-gasp win over Panama last week – that his team had to be prepared to put their bodies and souls on the line to get past England and out of Group L. Fortunately for his team, suffering is something that they have become accustomed to over the past few years.
Ghana have typically been among Africa’s strongest sides over the past two decades, but their recent form has been far from typical. This is a side which was humbled at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2024, failed to even qualify in 2025, and which came into the World Cup off the back of a six-match winless streak – and which has lost several key players to injuries.
It’s also a side which has Antoine Semenyo, one of the most in-form forwards in world football, and untapped reserves of talent. So just how worried should England be ahead of Tuesday’s match in Boston?
Ghana have been struggling for years - but England can’t take them lightly
Ghana are the 10th international team that Carlos Quieroz has managed.placeholder image
Ghana are the 10th international team that Carlos Quieroz has managed. | Getty Images
When Ghana were drawn in Group L alongside Thomas Tuchel’s side, the reaction amounted to a collective gulp. The Black Stars have built up a fearsome reputation over recent years and breezed through an admittedly gentle qualifying group. Whatever form they pieced together over the course of 2025 quickly dissipated as preparations for the World Cup ramped up, however.
Four consecutive defeats in friendly matches meant cost manager Otto Addo his job, and the 73-year-old Quieroz was parachuted into the role in April in the hopes that a highly experienced coach could engineer a swift turnaround. A loss to Mexico and a draw with Wales followed, with the tense win over Panama representing his first victory. If Quieroz is indeed building something, he is doing so upon some rather flimsy foundations.
That rough run of warm-up matches – they scored three and conceded 13 in the space of six matches – followed hot on the heels of a pair of abysmal AFCON campaigns, while even their successful qualifying run for this summer was interspersed by three straight defeats in friendly games against Nigeria. Results have been falling below the high bar that Ghana have set for themselves for quite a while.
Matters haven’t been helped by the fact that Ghana are having to make do without Tottenham Hotspur’s Mohammed Kudus and experienced former Southampton centre-back Mohammed Salisu, both deeply important players ruled out by long-term injuries – and to pour salt into the rather literal wounds, first-choice goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi was hauled off at half-time against Panama and is a doubt for the game against England.
Form and circumstances both seem to dictate that England should beat Ghana, and should probably do so handily, especially given how impressive Thomas Tuchel’s side looked going forward in their opening 4-2 win over Croatia. But the defence was a worry, and struggled to handle the Croatian high press, so the thought of Semenyo bearing down on that back line might still inspire some jitters in the run-up to Tuesday evening’s match – and winning the battle down the Ghanaian left flank will certainly be critical.
Can Antoine Semenyo find his Manchester City form for Ghana?
Antoine Semenyo made his debut for Ghana in 2022.placeholder image
Antoine Semenyo made his debut for Ghana in 2022. | Getty Images
That isn’t solely because of Semenyo, although the 26-year-old is coming into the summer off the back of a superb season for both Manchester City and Bournemouth, but also because of the threat posed by Atalanta’s Kamaldeen Sulemana, another left winger who operated alongside Semenyo against Panama.
Quieroz essentially used a 4-2-4 system in that game, with Semenyo and the lightning-fast Sulemana both playing on the left wing, looking to create overwhelming overloads on one side of the defence. If Quieroz sticks with the same plan, then Reece James and Ezri Konsa – assuming that Tuchel persists with his selection policy from the first match – could be placed under immense pressure.
Two very dangerous players will both be pressing at England’s apparent weak point at the same time, and if the defence is as hesitant and “fearful” – as Tuchel put it after last Wednesday’s match – against Ghana, then they may find that an out-of-sorts side present a rather tougher prospect than they might have anticipated.
It may soothe James and Konsa’s nerves a little, however, to learn that Semenyo’s exceptional form at club level has yet to translate to the international stage. He has just three goals in his 35 caps for the Black Stars so far with just one in the last three years, which came in a routine 5-0 qualifying win over Chad.
It isn’t only England’s defence that will need to be at the top of their game on Tuesday, but Semenyo himself. Without Kudus, in particular, there is considerable onus on the Manchester City man to uplift an attack which has looked flat for a long time. He needs to scale the same heights that he has reached in the Premier League, something he has yet to do in a Ghanaian shirt.
Semenyo does at least have a supporting cast with some undeniably talented players to help him out. The versatile Caleb Yirenkyi, who scored their late winner against Panama, is a dynamic young player whose star is rising rapidly in Denmark, while Lyon right winger Ernest Nuamah is a gifted forward who is back to full fitness after his own progress towards the top of the game was stalled by a cruciate ligament injury. Both are capable of grabbing games by the scruff of the neck if given a chance.
They will also be able to call upon Thomas Partey after the former Arsenal midfielder missed the opening game having been refused a visa to enter Canada. Partey is due to strand trial on rape and sexual assault charges next year, allegations which he denies, but that has not dissuaded Quieroz from relying on his experience in midfield. He is expected to start.
England should win this game, and if it goes to form then they should do some comfortably – but Ghana have a new head coach, a point to prove, talent in their ranks, and a first-rate forward who could give a seemingly vulnerable defence some significant headaches.
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