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Ghana 0 Germany 1: match report
They cleared one off the line, saw their goal lead a charmed life more than once on the odd occasion and came under threat more often than they would have cared for. Then we remembered this was Germany we were talking about.
So naturally, following the time-honoured rules of global football, there was an inevitability that even with their young, largely rookie team, they would keep their nerve here at Soccer City to eke out the win which ensures the shoot out with England in the last-16.
Bring on the grand collision, their players, coach Joachim Low and thousands of fans were all agreed about afterwards. “It’s going to be wonderful,” boomed Low, savouring another crack at Fabio Capello after the Mannschaft’s 2-1 defeat in Berlin under his stewardship in 2008.
In the end, it took a quite fabulous goal from Mesut Ozil in the second half to ensure they took control of group D and booked a tie in Bloemfontein on Sunday which is never going to be knowingly undersold.
Yet, in defeat, it was party time for Ghana too, as they became the first African team to make it through to the knock out stages of the continent’s first World Cup.
And after a remarkably open game with chances squandered – and saved - in profusion at both ends, England could afford to look at this German side and believe that, though full of verve and inspired by a brilliant captain Philipp Lahm, they can be embarrassed at the back, as Ghana’s lone ranger up front Asamoah Gyan demonstrated. In short, they’re beatable.
So, Germany did not get knocked out of the group stages for the first time ever but it did turn out to be an historic evening thanks to the intriguing sub-plot when the Germans announced that Jerome Boateng would start at full back.
It meant that, for the first time in the history of the World Cup, two brothers were pitted on opposite sides in a game at the finals, with Portsmouth’s Kevin-Prince turning out in Ghana’s midfield.
Two silent brothers, too, as they still happen to be feuding over Kevin-Prince’s tackle in the FA Cup final which did for Michael Ballack’s World Cup. By the end, they could both celebrate, what with Kevin-Prince having been given a surprisingly comfy ride by Ballack’s supposedly angry teammates and Jerome having made one critical intervention which prevented Prince Tagoe’s far post header providing an instant response to Ozil’s goal.
For starters, though, it was Kevin-Prince, who gave up the chance to play for Germany and decided to throw in his lot with the land of his Ghanaian father, making the biggest impression, a lovely through ball offering Gyan the first chance of the game.
Gyan’s control let him down but the striker who won man of the match awards in Ghana’s first two games soon proved a menace all night to Germany with his power and pace, at one point only being checked with a last-ditch tackle by Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Still, cheered on by a noisy contingent delighting in the idea of another dance with the old enemy, Germany proved the better side for most of the evening from the moment Cacau, a more than useful replacement for the supended Miroslav Klose, unloaded their first shot.
Wigan’s Richard Kingson made several tremendous saves, none better than when he spread himself wide as Ozil, freed on goal, cut in from the left and tried to side foot past him.
It was a good job Germany had the experience and excellence of Lahm to help them through. One minute he was forging forward into the opposition box, being betrayed only by his final cross, and the next having to funnel back and clear a Gyan header from a corner off the line with the calmness of a man playing a captain’s innings. There were a few cries for handball, but it was more chest than arm.
Andrew Ayew, the excellent winger with a talent straight out of the gene pool of his dad, the great African pioneer Abedi Pele, floated another tantalising cross in for Gyan, which was glanced just past the post. This was becoming an uncomfortable ride for the 2006 finalists.
Kingson, who rarely gets a look in at Wigan, again made a fine scrambling stop from a Schweinsteiger free kick, but there was nothing he could do about Ozil’s dazzling skill on the hour when found on the edge of the box by Muller, the Werder Bremen midfielder unleashed a searing left foot volley. A wonderful goal executed by one of the players of the tournament.
Ghana tried to surge back but each time but just when it looked as if Ayew was about to pull the trigger and equalise, the tireless Lahm made an even more remarkable last-ditch tackle to stop Ayew from equalising.
Lahm had been every inch as splendid as John Terry for England earlier in the day, the embodiment of German big match efficiency just as the Chelsea man had stood for John Bull spirit earlier. Two nations cannot wait for them now to pit their extraordinary wills to win against each other.
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