This may only be Ghana’s third World Cup but the Black Stars have already lit up the competition and it would take a brave man to say they haven’t a chance of getting to the knockout stages.
Their first World Cup came in 2006 and the African side proved to be surprise package as they progressed through the group stages with the eventual winners Italy.
Despite an opening 2-0 loss to the Azzurri, coach Ratomir Dujkovic hailed his side’s historic moment and his pride in the his team’s effort.
It had meant that following Czech Republic’s 3-0 win against the United States that Dujovic’s men had to get a positive result against the Czechs five days later.
The dream result did come, with Ghana grabbing their own 2-0 win. Asamoah Gyan put them into the lead with just two minutes gone to register their first ever World Cup Finals goal and the ever-present Sully Muntari was on hand to wrap up the points.
Gyan, who opened the scoring, said victory had left the way clear for Ghana to clinch their passage into the second round after the final group game against United States.
“I think everything’s open now,†said Gyan. “We made up for our mistakes and we showed we can produce a powerful performance. We were the better team today.â€
It was a result which had clearly fired up the nation ahead of the crunch match with the Yanks. With the already qualified Azzurri facing the Czechs, Ghana’s fate lay in their own hands and the winger Haminu Draman got the ball rolling when he struck first blood within twenty minutes.
Clint Dempsey had levelled two minutes before half time but it was to be Ghana’s day as captain Stephen Appiah coolly slotted home a spot kick deep in first half stoppage time. It proved to be the goal that would send the Black Stars sailing into the knockout stages at the first time of asking.
The dream came to an end after drawing this year’s hosts Brazil. The South American side ran out easy 3-0 winners. It had proved to be a historic tournament for Ghana having never qualified for a World Cup Finals in their entire history and making it to the knockout phase was a sign of things to come.
We would see them again in South Africa four years later and again the Black Stars would not disappoint. In another group containing a team they’ll face this year, Germany would prove to be the only team who would overhaul Ghana as they qualified for the knockout stage yet again. They began postitively, edging out Serbia 1-0 thanks to Gyan converting a penalty five minutes from time.
Another game and another Gyan penalty followed as they came from behind to get a draw with Australia leaving themselves in a strong position going into the final match with Germany.
Australia needed a heavy win against Serbia and for Germany to do the same to Milovan Rajevic’s men. Despite Ghana losing out 1-0 to an Ozil goal, Australia did not do enough to overhaul them and Ghana had qualified for another knockout phase again being led by a Serbian coach.
There’d be more thrills and spills for the Ghanaians as they drew the United States in the first knockout match. Kevin-Prince Boateng put the Black Stars ahead early on but Landon Donovan dispatched a penalty to send the game into extra time. Gyan was to be the hero again as he notched early in extra time to send them into the quarter-finals.
The match against Uruguay would prove to be one of the most intriguing of the entire finals. Deep into injury time, Muntari got the goal Ghana had dreamt of only for it to be wiped out by Celeste hero Diego Forlan meaning Ghana had to endure another extra time.
In the 120th minute, Suarez denied Ghana a winning goal by clawing the ball out of the net leading to a penalty and a red card for the Uruguayan. The ever reliable Gyan stepped up and, despite already scoring two penalties during the tournament, crashed the ball against the bar. With that the game would go to a nervy penalty shootout. Gyan was able to dispatch his spot-kick this time, but the rest of his team struggled and Ghana were defeated 4-2.