Is It Smoke Screen Tactics? Ghana National Team Taking Third Day Off, Why?

Registering Participation Only in 'Community Event' and Taking a Break
CBS: "The Most Surprising Upset in Group H Will Be Ghana"

On the 18th (local time), the Ghana national football team arrived at Hamad International Airport in the eastern part of Doha, Qatar. Photo by Reuters

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] The Ghana national team, preparing for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, has reportedly not conducted any separate training sessions for three consecutive days. Ghana, placed in Group H, is also the second opponent for the South Korean national team.

Coach Otto Addo's Ghana team arrived in Doha, Qatar, on the 18th (Korean time). They received enthusiastic support from their home fans as they arrived and settled at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel in Doha. Local broadcasts even aired news footage of the team arriving at their accommodation.

However, the whereabouts of the Ghana team have been unclear since then. Ghana is scheduled to face Portugal on the 25th, South Korea on the 28th, and Uruguay on the 3rd of next month. Yet, until the second day after their arrival in Doha on the 19th, they had not conducted any activities. According to the FIFA Media Hub site, which posts overall tournament schedules and team training plans, Ghana's schedule only stated "rest day." This is quite a different atmosphere compared to the South Korean team, which has been training and adapting locally since arriving in Qatar on the 14th.

On the 19th, the Ghana Football Association posted several photos of the team training on social media, but these were taken during training in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), not in Doha where the World Cup is being held. The training ground fences in the photos lacked the tournament logos and symbolic colors that would indicate a World Cup training venue.

On the following day, the 20th, no separate training schedule was found either. The site only noted that the Ghana team would participate in a "community event." The community event is an activity planned by FIFA ahead of this World Cup, and all participating teams are required to attend.

Various speculations have arisen regarding Ghana's lack of training even three days after arriving in Qatar. Some suggest that Ghana might be conducting a smokescreen operation to hide their tactics from their opponents.

On the afternoon of the 18th (local time), two days before the opening of the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup, fans of the Ghana national team are enthusiastically cheering while waiting for the players in front of the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel in Doha, Qatar, where the team is staying. Photo by Yonhap News

Ghana's approach, very different from other Group H countries that began training immediately after arrival, also makes them a team expected to cause an upset in the group. Ahead of the World Cup kickoff, US broadcaster CBS released a power ranking naming one country in each group likely to cause an upset, and for Group H, they chose Ghana instead of South Korea.

CBS stated, "South Korea has the variable of Son Heung-min's injury," and predicted, "Ghana could produce unexpected results against Portugal or Uruguay." They added, "The strength gap between the top two teams (Portugal and Uruguay) and the other two teams (South Korea and Ghana) is not very large," and "especially Ghana has many young and talented players with a bright future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.