Johannesburg — Better finishing and Ghana might have secured a famous scalp against Germany, but coach Milovan Rajevac will still consider it "job done" after his side squeezed into the Last 16 of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The Black Stars had their chances against a young German side but ended up losing 1-0 at Soccer City. Despite that, Rajevac will be pleased with his team's individual performances, as the Ghanaians troubled their more illustrious opponents regularly through the game.
Rajevac feels that the defeat does not mean his side do not deserve to be in the second round, after an earlier win over Serbia and draw with Australia, and they now meet the United States in Rustenburg on Saturday.
“Germany are an excellent team, but at the end of the day, we deserve to be in the next round,” Rajevac said.
“We were tactically very disciplined, but we can’t be conceding a goal like that. They’re a good team, and they took advantage of the situation, but at the end of the day, it’s worked out well for us.
“I hope we’ll have the support of most of the South African people now. I hope we’ll benefit from the tremendous support here in South Africa.
"We created some great chances and were a shade unlucky with our finishing – perhaps we lacked focus. I hope we start scoring goals. I’m not thinking about the USA yet, we want to celebrate today’s achievement first.”
The way in which the Black Stars troubled the Europeans was acknowledged by German coach Joachim Loew, who added: "It was an unbelievably hard-fought game.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"A number of our tactics didn’t really come off, but at the end of the day, we’re through to the next stage. Manuel Neuer made two or three outstanding saves in a terrific display.
“We’re looking forward to the Round of 16 tie [against England], it’ll be a cracking match. You could see our young team struggling to cope with the pressure, but these are the games you have to win. We’ve done it, and I’m delighted.
“We could have made more of the chances we created. We just lacked conviction in our attacking play. We made mistakes too, but no criticism towards my young players. There are a few areas where we have to improve. It's a mark of Mesut Ozil’s class that he brilliantly took his second chance of the game.”
Ghana are the only side from Africa in the Last 16 of the World Cup so far, with just Cote d'Ivoire left with a chance of joining them. But that looks unlikely as they would need to fashion a nine-goal swing with Portugal going into their final game against North Korea.
