Pretoria — Ghana handed Africa a huge boost at the 2010 FIFA World Cup on Sunday with a 1-0 victory over what on paper looked like a tough Serbian side.
As it turned out, the Serbs did not seem to pitch up to play and, as they have so many times before in major finals, froze on their big day.
After a tentative first half, the Ghanaians must have gone into the break, with the scoreline at 0-0, thinking that this game was there for the taking and they produced a positive response in the second period to run the Serbs ragged.
But the Europeans were also the architects of their own downfall. A silly challenge from Aleksandar Lukovi? led to his dismissal, and further boosted the confidence of the Black Stars, while the handball by Zdravko Kuzmanovic was pure stupidity.
Asamoah Gyan held his nerve at the crucial moment to net the penalty, and also hit the post twice in the match, to underline the Black Stars' dominance of chances in the game.
With a win under their belt and the Australians to come next, Ghana have an excellent chance of reaching the second round of the competition, though veteran midfielder Stephen Appiah sounded a note of caution after the match.
“It was a great win and a good game for us, but we cannot get ahead of ourselves. We must focus on Australia and not think of the second round,” Appiah said.
It is a view echoed by Ghana's Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac, who is desperate that his players keep their feet on the ground.
"We worked hard as a team and got a fine result for it. I said at halftime to the players this could be decided by a mistake and in the end that is what happened," Rajevac said.
"We have scored a really important victory but there are six more points to play for, so we have to forget about this and focus on our next game against Australia. The most important game for this tournament is the next one and I hope we will show the same desire."
For Serbian coach Radomir Antic it was a disastrous start and one that is bound to be met with derision back home. The coach was desperate to find the positives.
"Of course this is a big blow for us, it's bad to start the World Cup with a defeat,” Antic said. "But we have two more games and we must put this behind us and look forward to playing Germany and Australia."
