Ghana vs Panama Prediction: Parity and a Price Boost the picks in Toronto

The teams in Group L have had to be patient as they wait for their turn to get going at the FIFA World Cup. Two of those go head-to-head in Toronto at 12am BST on Thursday (7pm local Wednesday), as Ghana face Panama live on ITV 1. 

You can check out my Ghana vs Panama Predictions down below. 

Team News

Thomas Partey will play no part in this one for Ghana after he was denied a visa by the Canadian government, but Antoine Semenyo should star on the left, with Jordan Ayew up front. Ayew should pose a threat while his clubmate Abdul Fatuwu may have to settle for a spot on the bench. 

Panama are likely to be without star man Adalberto Carrasquilla as he has missed all of the warm-up games, but the Pumas midfielder is back in training and may feature off the bench. Anibal Godoy is set to win his 160th international cap.

Ghana vs Panama Odds

Ghana are the 5/4 favourites for this game, giving them an implied win probability of 48%. Panama are 12/5 for the win, a draw is 11/5 and over 2.5 goals is 5/4. 

BTTS is 1/1, Antoine Semenyo is the favourite to score first at 11/2 and there are plenty of Price Boosts which you can find on the link above. 

Sub Switch - Pre-match Bet Builder and Single bets on qualifying Player selections.

Draw @ 11/5

These two are in England’s group, so we will be keeping a close eye on how they get on following the Three Lions’ opener vs Croatia. As you can see, Ghana are the favourites to take the win, but I’m going to go against them in this one. 

They won their qualifying group emphatically, but Madagascar and Mali were their strongest opponents, as they conceded six goals in eight games. They lost 1-0 to Comoros in that group and although Antoine Semenyo has sparkled in the Premier League, he only has three goals in 34 for his country - a poor return especially when you consider the opposition. 

Warm-up games saw them lose 2-0 to Mexico and draw 1-1 with Wales.

Meanwhile Panama won their final qualification group with three wins and three draws against Suriname, Guatemala and El Salvador, so their opponents have also been weak. However, their recent performance in the 6-2 defeat to Brazil was positive, as was their 1-1 draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina. 

Panama are going to be far more competitive this time around than they were in 2018, and I believe a draw is the most likely result at a decent price.

Price Boost - Antoine Semenyo 1+ shot on target, 1+ tackle, 1+ fouls won, 1+ fouls against @ 2/1

I’m not convinced Semenyo will score in this game, but I do think he will be the key player in all senses of the world. I like the look of this Price Boost (up from 6/4) on Betfred, with the stats supporting this. 

Semenyo needs to have 1+ shot on target, make 1+ tackle, concede 1+ foul and win at least one foul. He averaged 1.15 shots on target per 90 in the Premier League this season, while surprisingly he also made 1.26 tackles per 90.

In terms of fouls, he commits a massive 1.46 fouls per 90, but the only stat that is under the required one is fouls won, at 0.59 per 90. Having said that, I think Panama will be pretty aggressive when he’s on the ball, so I’d expect that to land.