Ghana Reviewed World Cup Matches

1:0

Ghana beat Panama 1-0 thanks to a goal deep into stoppage time.

0:0

England and Ghana played out a 0-0 draw in the Round of 32, even though the hosts were overwhelming favorites on both possession (79% to 21%) and xG (1.36 to 0.17).

1:0

The goalkeeper at one end had 7 saves to make; the goalkeeper at the other had none. That is the quickest way into this match, and maybe the cleanest. A casual viewer might shrug at 1 : 0 and file it under narrow escape, tense finish, one of those nights when a favorite leaves a little change on the table. But this was not that kind of evening. This was control with a stubborn scoreline attached: Colombia produced 2.18 xG to Ghana’s 0.26, spent long stretches in possession, and asked far more demanding questions all night. The funny part is that Jhon Arias had already put his name in the book before he put it on the scoreboard.

2:1

Some matches drift so far from their own numbers that the model raises an alarm. Croatia beat Ghana 2:1 with xG 0.46 against 0.73 — the winner created less than the loser, and the anomaly index shot up to 85%.