May 20 (Reuters) - Ghana will begin their World Cup preparations in Wales this week at the end of a month-long odyssey for coach Carlos Queiroz after his belated appointment to take the team to the tournament in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
Queiroz, who will manage at his fifth straight World Cup, took over in April and has spent the last month visiting players at their clubs, watching potential candidates for the final 26-man squad and trying to learn as much as he can about the side.
He and staff members have travelled to 12 cities, watched 14 matches and studied the form of 55 Ghanaian players by watching videos of more than 200 matches.
The 73-year-old, who has long had a reputation for meticulous preparation, has had little time to get to know his players but will begin to work with the first batch who report to camp this week.
“We have to put the right preparation in place — training, diet, nutrition, physios, fitness and the details of set pieces,” Queiroz said in an interview published by the FA.
“It’s easy to say, ‘I want to win the World Cup,’ just like many people want to buy a private jet,” he said. “But you have to be ready to pay the price to achieve those dreams.”
Ghana will be in Wales for 12 days and play the hosts in a friendly in Cardiff on June 2 after which they leave for the finals, where they face Panama, England and Croatia in Group L.
A Ghana team made up of home-based and under-23 players are playing against World Cup co-hosts Mexico in Puebla on Friday.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ken Ferris)
