By Carlos Amato
On June 23 at Soccer City, two brothers could create World Cup history.
Other pairs of footballing brothers have competed for different countries before, but this would be the first intrafamily collision on the game's greatest stage.
Black Stars coach Milovan Rajevac is keen to select Kevin-Prince, who grew up in the rough Berlin district of Wedding, as soon as Fifa's bureaucrats are satisfied of his Ghanaian parentage. His mother is German, and his (and Jerome's) Ghanaian father, Prince Boateng, played for minor Bundesliga clubs.
In his teens, Kevin-Prince played for Germany at under-21 level, but has since dropped out of the running for a full Germany cap - not because of any deficiency of talent, but because he's a bit of a nutter.
In Berlin last year, he and a former Hertha Berlin teammate got into hot water for smashing parked cars during a 3am bender. And after he moved to Spurs from Hertha, his fat wages triggered a catastrophic bout of shopaholism.
"I bought three cars in one day," Kevin-Prince told Sky Sports recently. "For a high six-figure sum I got a Lamborghini, a Hummer and a Cadillac Oldtimer. The best clobber was important to me - and that I was known in nightclubs. It got completely out of hand.
"In addition, from that time I still today have around 200 caps, around 20 leather jackets and 160 pairs of shoes.
"I had, because of my frustration, an enormous appetite for shopping. I squandered inconceivably large amounts of money in the nights. But it did not make me happy. I was broken, in another world."
Kevin-Prince has since scissored his credit cards and received counselling. And his dynamic performances for Portsmouth this season have convinced Ghana fans that the Black Stars need him, nutty or not.
"Ghanaians watch a lot of English Premier League football, and they can see that Boateng would provide a much-need element of creativity," says Accra-based football commentator Michael Oti Adjei.
"The youngsters did well in Angola, but there's clearly a need for more ball players, even when Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari return to the side."
Boateng would balance Ghana's mighty midfield by raiding on the right - where the incumbents, Haminu Draman and Laryea Kingston, are a shade short of world class.
Rajevac has also tried to convince Inter Milan wonder kid Mario Balotelli, whose parents are both Ghanaian, to become a Black Star - but the youngster didn't pitch up for two meetings the Serbian arranged.
"We've now accepted Balotelli is committed to playing for Italy," says Adjei. "But Rajevac has won a lot of respect. He is tough, but he's also pragmatic.
"He dropped Muntari for the Nations Cup for disciplinary reasons, but made peace with him afterwards, knowing the team need Muntari in SA."
But Rajevac has shown little interest in selecting Steven Appiah, once the team's attacking kingpin, who has finally recovered from a serious knee injury, but hasn't kicked a ball in anger in two years.
Plenty of new blood is emerging. At the Nations Cup in Angola, gifted youngsters such as Anthony Annan, Isaac Vorsah, Samuel Inkoom and Kwadwo Asamoah made compelling claims for starting places at the World Cup.
Thus Rajevac's bold decision to rest his kingpins and pick an understrength squad for Angola has reaped rich rewards: the Black Stars are now a tougher unit with improved depth.
But there's no avoiding the fearsome quality of Ghana's group opponents - Germany, Serbia and Australia.
If the Black Stars do advance from their group, they need fear nobody.