Ghana were powerless to resist Brazil in Friday’s meeting between the sides at the Stade Oceane, which ended in a comprehensive 3-0 thrashing.
The Estadio Francisco Artes Carrasco plays host to Nicaragua and Ghana on Tuesday as they go head-to-head in an international friendly.
Off the back of respective defeats in their last outings, both teams set out to secure a return to winning ways as soon as possible.
Otto Addo’s men had a first half to forget in Le Havre, conceding a ninth-minute opener to Marquinhos before Richarlison grabbed two goals of his own.
It is now three defeats in four matches for the Black Stars since they recorded three straight victories between June and July earlier this year.
Awaiting them next is a first-ever confrontation of an opposing outfit who are 79 places below in the latest FIFA ranking of all national teams.
In their final outing before jetting off to Qatar in November, Ghana will be aiming to set the tone for the World Cup with a dominant display here.
Nicaragua suffered what was only a second defeat since the turn of the year following a 2-1 loss against Suriname at the Yanmar Stadion on Thursday.
After going behind to Mitchell te Vrede’s opener, Marco Antonio Figueroa’s men restored parity through Josue Quijano, but there was still one final twist to come as Jeredy Hilterman struck a late winner. That put an end to La Azul y Blanco’s run of two consecutive wins as well as a five-game unbeaten streak which kicked off back in March.
Ahead of the resumption of their CONCACAF Nations League journey next year, Nicaragua set out to cap off their involvement for 2022 on a positive note.
Nicaragua International Friendlies form:
* W
* D
* L
Nicaragua form (all competitions):
* D
* W
* D
* W
* W
* L
Ghana International Friendlies form:
* L
* L
Ghana form (all competitions):
* D
* D
* W
* D
* L
* L
Team News
Ghana’s Thomas Partey picked up an injury during the warm-up for the Brazil game and has since returned to Arsenal for proper evaluation. Despite seeing his five-game scoring streak come to an end in the aforementioned match, Mohammed Kudus was bright as ever and remains one to keep an eye on.
Josue Quijano’s last outing was his 80th for Nicaragua as the 31-year-old continues to extend his lead at the top of the all-time appearances chart. Not far behind is Juan Barrera, who is currently seven caps shy of Quijano despite having made his international debut two years earlier.
Nicaragua possible starting lineup:
Lopez; Acevedo, Fletes, Gutierrez, Quijano; Medina, Coronel, Moldskred; Bonilla, Moreno, Lopez
Ghana possible starting lineup:
Wollacott; Baba, Djiku, Amartey, Odoi; Baba Mohammed; J.Ayew, A.Ayew, Kudus, Sulemana; Afena-Gyan
I say : Nicaragua 1-4 Ghana
Ghana were largely underwhelming against Brazil, but they will be expected to fare better against less illustrious opponents. We are tipping the West Africans to just about get the job done here in what should be a close contest.