DOHA (Reuters) – Cristiano Ronaldo, appearing in his fifth World Cup, will spearhead Portugal’s attack against Ghana alongside Joao Felix in their opening Group H match on Thursday.
Ronaldo left Manchester United this week in an acrimonious split after he said he felt betrayed by the club, but his coach and team mates have said the upheaval was having no impact on Portugal’s preparations for their campaign in Qatar.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos partnered Ronaldo with Atletico Madrid’s Felix in attack while Danilo Pereira joined Ruben Dias in the centre of defence. In midfield, Santos chose an attacking formation with only Ruben Neves as an anchor.
Ghana manager Otto Addo went for three central defenders in a bid to thwart Portugal and entrusted former Spain international Inaki Williams to lead his attack.
Teams
Portugal: Diogo Costa, Joao Cancelo, Danilo Pereira, Ruben Dias, Raphael Guerreiro, Ruben Neves, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Otavio, Joao Felix, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ghana: Lawrence Ati-Zigi, Abdul-Rahman Baba, Daniel Amartey, Alexander Djiku, Mohammed Salisu, Alidu Seidu, Thomas Partey, Salis Abdul Samed, Mohammed Kudus, Andre Ayew, Inaki Williams
(Writing by William Schomberg and Mark Gleeson; Editing by Ken Ferris)
