Ghana Earns Creditable Draw Against Germany
The Black Stars of Ghana came agonizingly close to upsetting pre-tournament favourites Germany in a truly pulsating game of football. Goals from Andre Ayew and Asamoah Gyan put us in the lead after Mario Götze's opener. Scoring was completed by Miroslav Klose, who came off the bench for the three time world cup winners to equalise (and in doing became joint all time world cup leading scorer). This game will live long in the memory for its dramatic end to end finish with both sides having great chances to take all three points.
Fans in attendance in Fortaleza, Brazil were treated to a fantastic game of football particularly in the second half with all four goals occurring in the latter period. The game started fairly uneventfully with Ghana set up to stifle any German attempts to penetrate their rearguard by dropping fairly deep and standing off their opponents. Germany opted not to commit too many players forward in order to keep their shape and avoid the dangerous Ghanaian counter-attacks.
The first chance of the game came in the 7th minute, with Gyan blazing over the bar after good work down the right wing by the pacey Christian Atsu. Germany responded with long range efforts from Bayern Munich's Toni Kroos. Real Madrid's Sami Khedira had a decent shooting opportunity that ended up going straight into the hands of Ghana keeper Fatau Dauda. As the half wore on Christian Atsu's influence grew as he continually got the better of German left back Benedikt Höwedes with his pace and trickery.
The Germans began to find space down the flanks with intelligent runs in behind our defence by Mesut Ozil and Mario Götze. Each time our back line was breached, Ghana's central defensive pairing of John Boye and Jonathan Mensah were sharp and alert to the danger, cutting out the supply lines to Thomas Muller. However both sides remained cautious overall with the half ending goalless.
The second half sparked into life in the 51st minute with Germany taking the lead. The goal was created by Thomas Muller who found space and time on the right to centre the ball for Götze's well timed run into the box. His finish was somewhat fortuitous though, as his initial header cannoned off his face onto his knee before rolling into the net. Ghana knew coming into this match that they needed at least a point to keep their hopes of qualification alive and responded extremely well to the setback.
Only 3 minutes after the opener, the Black Stars drew level. Similar to the German goal it was a cross from the right wing by full back Harrison Afful with Andre Ayew providing the finish with an emphatic header which left German goalie Manuel Neuer no chance. Queue jubilant scenes from the Ghanaian supporters in the stadium (and undoubtedly all around the world). Ghana's almost immediate response startled Germany and breathed further life and impetus into their opponents.
Before Germany were able to fully regroup, Ghana took a deserved lead through their irrepressible captain Asamoah Gyan. Gyan had half chances in the first half that he could have done better with, but once he was played in after a great interception and through ball from Sulley Muntari he was not going to be denied. Gyan became the second Africa player with 5 world cup goals to his name (the other being the equally irrepressible Roger Miller).
Germany were rattled and Ghana had a great opportunity to get a third goal after a magnificent run down the left channel by substitute Jordan Ayew. However he elected to go it alone by cutting onto his right foot with his shot harmlessly rolling to the German keeper. The better option would have been to square the ball to striker partner Gyan who had kept up with him during his lung busting run and was in a much better position to score.
With that chance squandered you immediately felt that German may have gotten a reprieve. And so it proved on the 71st minute as Ghana conceded its 2nd goal from a corner kick in as many games. Germany had already made two changes after going a goal down, bringing on Bastian Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose for Mario Götze and Sami Khedira. Klose, a goal poacher par excellence was on hand to divert a goal bound effort of defender Höwedes into the net. Once again the scores were level.
The game became stretched as both sides began to tire after putting in so much effort in extremely hot and humid conditions. Both teams could lay claim to good opportunities to score the decisive third goal if not for the last ditch defending and poor execution in the final third. The game ended in a draw which leaves Germany still topping the group with 4 points and Ghana hanging on in hope that Portugal get a result against the USA.
Ghana's final group game is against the Portuguese on Thursday the 26th of June. Nothing less than a win against Ronaldo and company (alongside the US losing their remaining games) will be sufficient to go through to the next round of the competition. Ironically Ghana will be cheering for a Portuguese victory against the USA in their match tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment