Preview: Germany vs. Ghana - prediction, team news, lineups

Reeling from a heavy defeat at the hands of Austria, Ghana face an even more difficult challenge on Monday when they take on in-form Germany at MHPArena in another warm-up match for the 2026 World Cup.

Otto Addo’s men have now suffered three defeats in a row, and they will need a significantly improved performance to avoid slipping to a fourth against a side on a six-match winning run.

Match preview

Ghana’s absence from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations meant that the Black Stars’ level heading into Friday’s friendly against Austria was unclear, with their last competitive game taking place last October.

Although they faced Ralf Rangnick’s team in a tune-up match for this summer’s World Cup, few would have anticipated the 5-1 hammering suffered by the West African giants, who have now lost three on the bounce since defeating Comoros 1-0 in October.

Having suffered 2-0 and 1-0 losses to Japan and South Korea in November, conceding five for the first time since a 5-0 thrashing by Saudi Arabia in September 2007 underlined the shock of their latest setback.

More worrying still was the second-half collapse that saw Addo’s team concede four goals, having let in only a 12th-minute Marcel Sabitzer penalty before half-time.

Fortunately for Ghana, the Black Stars still have time — albeit only three months — to put right the wrongs of Friday’s humiliation before their World Cup opener against Panama on 18 June.

However, the task appears even tougher on Monday, when they must somehow find answers against an in-form Germany side on an impressive winning run.

Die Nationalelf’s closing sequence of victories in World Cup qualifying was built on clean sheets in four of five games against Luxembourg (4-0, 2-0), Northern Ireland (1-0) and Slovakia (6-0), so few expected a goal-fest against Switzerland.

Nonetheless, a high-scoring encounter unfolded in Basel as the DFB team came from 1-0 and 2-1 down to win 4-3 after a Florian Wirtz-inspired display at St Jakob-Park.

The Leverkusen star had a direct hand in all four goals, scoring twice and providing two assists from the left, with licence to drift into the inside-left channel and central areas to devastating effect.

Nagelsmann may be inclined to make changes to the side that extended the four-time world champions’ winning streak, but any XI sent out in Stuttgart will be fancied to inflict further misery on the Black Stars, even if there are no immediate consequences for victory or defeat.

Germany form (all competitions):

Ghana form (all competitions):

Team News

Although Antoine Semenyo, Jordan Ayew and Thomas Partey played 86 minutes in the humiliation by Austria, all three could start in Stuttgart, with Addo likely to name a strong side.

The West Africans may make changes at full-back, with Gideon Mensah and Marvin Senaya replacing Derrick Kohn and Caleb Yirenkyi at left-back and right-back, respectively.

Ayew netted his 34th international goal in the heavy loss to Austria, and the forward will hope to add to that tally in a more positive result for his side.

The hosts may make a raft of changes to the team that contested a seven-goal thriller with Switzerland, with Nagelsmann tempted to give Bayern Munich’s Lennart Karl his first Germany start.

Karl replaced Leroy Sane after 63 minutes in Basel, and the former Bayern boss could opt to start the 18-year-old, given that the game will be played on home soil and against out-of-form opposition.

Nick Woltemade could lead the line with Kai Havertz handed a breather, while Pascal Gross and Anton Stach may come in for Angelo Stiller and Leon Goretzka in midfield.

At the back, in-demand Eintracht Frankfurt left-back Nathaniel Brown could start ahead of David Raum, while Antonio Rudiger and Malick Thiaw may get the nod at centre-back.

Germany possible starting lineup:

Baumann; Kimmich, Thiaw, Rudiger, Brown; Gnabry, Gross, Stach; Karl, Woltemade, Schade

Ghana possible starting lineup:

Ghana: Zigi; Senaya, Pfeiffer, Djiku, Mensah; Issahaku, Partey, Sulemana, Semenyo; Adu, Ayew

We say: Germany 3-0 Ghana

Otto Addo’s men may start brightly in an attempt to banish the memory of their second-half collapse against Austria, but Germany’s depth in attacking areas should ultimately wear them down as the European heavyweights ease to a comfortable victory.

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