Germany v Ghana preview: Manchester United target to continue World Cup love affair?

Unsurprisingly, Germany are well primed to make the World Cup knockout stages as they always do and victory over Ghana will seal their spot in the last-16. talkSPORT looks back on the story so far and the key facts ahead of the game.

Germany
The story so far: Germany qualfied unbeaten for the World Cup but fans came into the tournament with low expectations after a poor warm-up campaign, which was marred by an injury to Marco Reus. However, a 4-0 thumping of ten-man Portugal - arguably their biggest rivals in Group G - has restored confidence in Deutschland. Thomas Muller's hat-trick has got him dreaming of a second successive World Cup golden boot and he will need to be watched closely.

Fact: These two sides met at the group stage in the last World Cup as Germany triumphed 1-0 thanks to a Mesut Ozil volley. The result set up a last-16 encounter for the Nationalmannschaft against England and we all remember too well what happened there. As for Ghana, they too qualified thanks to Australia beating Serbia and went on to memorably be knocked out by Uruguay in the quarter-finals.

Ghana
The story so far:  The African side cruised into the World Cup, topping qualification, but landed themselves in a tricky group with Germany, Portugal and the USA. They were unfortunate to be beaten by the States in their first game as John Brooks' first international strike settled the match four minutes from time. Defeat would spell the end for Ghana and mark the first time they do not progress beyond the group stage at a World Cup, so expect Kwesi Appiah's side to come out on the attack.

Fact: Former Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan has scored four and set up two of Ghana's ten World Cup goals over the years. The Black Cats will be hoping their star can find another against the far superior Germans tonight.

Click here to listen to talkSPORT's live coverage of Germany v Ghana from 20:00 on June 21.