Video: Ghana World Cup preparation suffer jolt after Holland thrashing

Published on: 01 June 2010

Ghana's preparation towards the World Cup suffered a severe jolt when they were comprehensively beaten 4-1 by Holland in a friendly in Rotterdam on Tuesday night.

Goals from Dirk Kuyt, Van Der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Pierse helped the home side to the victory with substitute Asamoah Gyan getting the consolation.

The Black Stars must continue their last warm-up with Latvia on Saturday knowing that another not-too-impressive showing could hamper their confidence ahead of the start of the tournament.

But Ghana captain Stephen Appiah’s showed glimpses of the prowess he is known for after taking on two defenders before he was brought down on 10 minutes .

The Black Stars brightest chance came moments later when Abeyie dummied three Dutch defenders before releasing Matthew Amoah on the right.

But the Holland based striker was brought down in the box by Manchester City defender De Jong but the referee refused to award the calls for a penalty.

Goalkeeper Richard Kingston failed to hold van Pierse’s shot on the first attempt by and Liverpool ace Dirk Kuyt followed up to open the scoring on the half hour mark.

The Dutch continued to dominate followed up with a similar move with Wesley Sneijder starting the move on the left before van Peirse sent the cross in for Ibrahim Afellay who fluffed the chance.

Sneijder once again beat his Ghanaian markers before releasing Van Pierse but the Arsenal attempt came off Kingston before tall defender Isaac Vorsah cleared the ball on the line.

Coach Milovan Rajevac made five changes just before the start of the second half with John Mensah, Dede Ayew, Prince Tagoe, Asamoah Gyan and Dominic Adiyiah given the opportunity to impress.

They took over from Isaac Vorsah, Sulley Muntari, Matthew Amoah, Stephen Appiah and Quincy Owusu.

The introduction of the youngsters brought some urgency in the Black Stars attack with Ayew, Gyan and defender Mensah particularly impressive.

Video: Watch goals of Ghana's 4-1 thrashing by Holland

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Gyan could have given the Black Stars the equalizer just after the half mark when the Dutch goalkeeper was late in attending to a back pass but the striker missed it by inches.

The home extended their lead against the run of play in the 72nd minute when the Ghanaian defence went to sleep to allow van der Vaart some space on the left before the striker fired past Kingston.

Playmaker Kwadwo Asamoah took over from Anthony Annan in the 76th and that brought a good omen for the Black Stars.

Two minutes later Prince Tagoe headed on for Gyan to steal in between two Dutch defenders before finding the net to restore hope for the Black Stars.

But Sneijder latched onto a corner kick to beat Kingston at the far post to make it 3-1 before the referee generously awarded a penalty kick for van Pierse to convert with only four minutes remaining.

Ghana’s starting Line-up and rating

Richard Kingson (4), Hans Adu-Sarpei (5), John Paintsil(6), Lee Arday(4.5), Isaac Vorsah (6.5)/(John Mensah(5)), Quincy Owusu Abeyie (5), Stephen Appiah (6)/Dominic Adiyiah (5), Derek Boateng(6), Sulley Muntari(4)/(Andre Ayew(6)), Anthony Annan (5), Mathew Amoah (4) (Asamoah Gyan (6.5)).

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