Heroic Ghana see off Serbia
Posted: Jun 13 2010
Asamoah Gyan’s second half penalty ensured Ghana got their World Cup campaign off to the perfect start after a 1-0 win over Serbia at Loftus Versfeld.
The Black Stars enjoyed the better of the play and chances throughout the game, and were helped in their cause when Aleksander Lukovic was dismissed for a second yellow card with 16 minutes to go.
Ghana were the more threatening in the early stages, making hay down the left hand flank. Kevin-Prince Boateng broke positively into that area with 20 minutes on the clock before passing to Gyan, who just failed to get a decisive touch.
At the other end, Serbia were allowing openings to pass them by, with the control of Pantelic particularly disappointing at crucial moments. Nikola Zigic was posing problems for the Black Stars’ defence, and after the striker had drawn a free-kick on the edge of the box, Aleksandar Kolarov bent an effort just wide.
After the break, Milan Jovanovic jinked his way into the box, but chose poorly when faced with the option to shoot or pass. The Liverpool-bound attacker could have drilled across the front of the goal, but instead slashed wide of the near post.
Typically, Ghana responded. Prince Tagoe’s fine centre was headed wide by Ayew, who should have found the net unmarked six yards from the target, before the same player sliced past from outside the box after showing superb fighting spirit to battle through two challenges.
A long throw from John Pantsil was then attacked brilliantly by Asamoah Gyan, who rose above Nemanja Vidic to graze the post with a near post header. Moments later, Tagoe directed an Ayew cross wide.
Amidst this plethora of opportunities to the Ghanaians, Serbia also created their best opening. Pantelic gathered the ball on the left touchline before delivering perfectly to Zigic, who failed to make proper contact with the ball, allowing the opening to pass.
With quarter of an hour remaining, Lukovic, who had enjoyed a strong game in defence, was guilty of a tug in the centre of the park while Ghana appeared to be going nowhere and was promptly shown a second yellow card, having been cautioned ten minutes after the restart.
Serbia understandably packed their defence thereafter, yet counter-intuitively looked dangerous all of a sudden. Danko Lazovic’s tenacity seemingly setup Pantelic for a simple finish from 12 yards, but the forward mishit his shot totally. Still, the ball fell kindly for Krasic, whose firm shot was not accurate enough to beat Kingson.
Vidic and Branislav Ivanovic would both send meaningful efforts off target in the following moments, but their defensive duties were of primary importance at this stage.
These efforts came from sporadic raids forwards by the Serbians, and their defence was under pressure from Ghana’s relentless attack. A moment of madness from Zdravko Kuzmanovic cost the Europeans as he inexplicably handled a long cross in the box. From the penalty spot, Gyan cracked a shot into the top left hand corner.
Kuzmanovic had a shot at immediate redemption, but leaned back and shot hopelessly over from the edge of the penalty box, consigning Serbia to an opening game loss, though it could have been heavier as Gyan struck the post in stoppage time.
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: 2010-06-13 18:15
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