Ghana vs. Portugal Match Report: Black Stars Lose the Plot

Black Stars Lose Plot On & Off Pitch

Amid yet more controversy the Black Stars of Ghana crashed out of the World Cup after losing 2-1 to Portugal. Ghana went into the game knowing only victory would give them any hope of progress, Portugal on the other hand had even less hope due to their inferior goal difference and were playing for pride (and hoping for a minor miracle to qualify). An own goal by John Boye and a late winner from Cristiano Ronaldo put paid to our attempts to win. Both goals bookended Asamoah Gyan's equaliser which briefly gave Ghana hope. The result is all the more painful with USA ending up on the losing end to Germany, meaning that if Ghana had done the job they could have qualified. But alas, it wasn't meant to be.

Heading into the match Ghana already had its fair share of off-field issues. There was the match fixing exposé by the British media early in the week, and then there was the players fees and bonuses not being paid on time which resulted in players refusing to train on Tuesday. And finally just hours before kick-off there was a player / coaching staff bust-up which ended in Sulley Muntari and Kevin Prince Boateng being ejected from our squad for the remainder of the tournament. Ghana had the holy trinity in pre-match controversy. It was possibly the worst build up to a World Cup match in living memory. From the outside looking in, Ghana seemed to be in disarray, there was genuine fear that team morale was at an all time low.

In the game itself coach Appiah made 2 changes from the team that drew with Germany, with Agyemang Badu and Majeed Waris replacing Ghana's bad boy duo Boateng and Muntari. Portugal opted to start with young forward Eder replacing the experienced Postiga, Real Madrid's hot headed defender Pepe returned to the side from suspension and midfielder William Cavalho was selected to add steel to their team. The game itself started rather slowly particularly for the Black Stars. Portuguese superstar Ronaldo created a scare by bursting down the right wing and delivering a cross cum shot that rattled the Ghanaian cross bar.

The Portuguese were definitely getting the better of the early exchanges, sitting off their opponents and breaking whenever Ghana squandered possession of the ball. They often attacked with width and pace on the counter (as predicted in my preview). Ronaldo was denied by Ghana keeper Fatawu Dauda in the 20th minute. The keeper made a good reaction save after the Balon d'Or winner directed a powerful header directly at him. Stand-in left back Miguel Veloso was beginning to find space and it was his cross that led to the opener on the 30th minute. Andre Ayew lost possession on the edge of the Portuguese box while attempting to swing the ball wide. His attempted pass hit the referee and Portugal regained possession and launched a swift counter. Veloso's wicked low cross confounded Ghana's John Boye as his attempt to clear the ball went awry and ended up in the back of the net for an own goal.

Ghana continued to struggle for rhythm with mistimed passes and poor first touches common place in the first half. This was a familiar sequence during this tournament; starting each match rather slowly and going a goal behind before we were able to muster any real response. But for a few half chances for Asamoah Gyan, Ghana offered very little cutting edge and weren't able to get out of second gear despite needing to win and being a goal down. The game remained 1-0 to Portugal at the half with our opponents edging it overall. The 'other' game between Germany and USA was scoreless at half time, which meant the both teams would qualify regardless of what happened between Ghana and the Portuguese.

Things needed to improve quickly in the 2nd half or Ghana would be kissing their chances of qualification goodbye. However the start of the new period wasn't much better with misplaced passes and wasted possession still afflicting Ghana. Once again our captain Asamoah Gyan was busy on the pitch, often moving around to create space and fashioned a long range shot from the edge of the box that went narrowly wide. His burst of energy seemed to inspire the team, after 57 minutes Ghana were level with our best move of the game. Once again Andre Ayew and Kojo Asamoah combined well on the left. Asamoah's dinked cross to the back post was perfect for Gyan to nod past the Portuguese keeper and restore parity for the Ghanaians.

News had also filtered through that Germany had taken the lead against the Americans, meaning if Ghana were to complete a stirring comeback they would qualify to the next round. It was finely balanced at this point with Ghana's destiny seemingly in their own hands; score another goal and Ghana would be through on goals scored (which represented the finest of margins). Ghanaian tails were up and we could sense the potential glory. Four minutes after our goal, Majeed Waris had a wonderful opportunity to give Ghana the lead after fine work on the left by Asamoah Gyan (who was by far Ghana's best player on the day). His header went wide when it seemed easier to score and frustratingly Ghana failed to take the lead.

Inevitably, Ghana's lack of composure in the final third (which plagued them in all their matches) came back to haunt them. On the 80th minute Ghana's hopes for qualification were all but dashed. Once again poor decision making defensively had cost them, this time the culprit being our goallie Dauda, who opted to push away an attempt at goal where he could have easily held onto the ball. The ball fell to none other than Ronaldo, who tucked the ball home much to the dismay of Ghanaian supporters. It seemed Kwaku Bonsam's plans had backfired: The only team Ronaldo managed to score against in this World Cup was us!

The game, like Ghana's participation in the tournament ended at the final whistle with regret and disappointment for our team and our nation as a whole. A tournament that started with so much promise ended on a sad and controversial note. It is especially sad when you consider this may be the last time we see the likes of Essien (an unused sub), Boateng and Muntari representing Ghana at international level. There is hope for the future with the emergence of some of our younger talent. Andre Ayew had a good tournament, Gyan became the all time leading African scorer in World Cup history. Rabiu was solid and dependable in midfield as was Christian Atsu. We can boast to have one of the world's finest wing backs in Kojo Asamoah. Also Mubarak Wakaso who was Ghana's top scorer at the last African Cup of Nations was lively in his cameo appearance today and should get more playing time in the future. 

Final results mean that Germany and the USA progress to the round of 16. Ghana must go away from this tournament determined to learn from the mistakes that were made on and off the pitch. Hopefully we will return stronger for the experience in 2018.

Ghana vs. Portugal Preview: Conspiracies Cloud Black Stars Clash

Conspiracies Cloud Clash Between Black Stars and Portugal

Under normal circumstances I would start my preview by looking at where the Black Stars are as a team then I would focus on the importance and implications of the game ahead. However the current climate of controversy is extremely hard to ignore. Talk of conspiracies have already started to dominate the thoughts of everyone connected to our national team.  I like many have been taken by this topic, in fact I watched a documentary last night on Channel 4 entitled "How to Fix a Football Match". The exposé centres around two senior members of the GFA and affiliated staff; Christopher Forsythe, a FIFA accredited agent and Obed Nketiah, who sits on the management committee of the Ghana Under-20 team. I think it's fair to say that based on the video evidence its not looking good for those two. If you haven't seen it already I suggest you watch it and make of it what you will.

At this point I genuinely don't think there are many Ghana fans who haven't read or seen comments and articles related to these allegations that question the integrity of some of the men who run (or at least help run) the Ghana Football Association. But what really fascinates me is the timing of this story. Isn't it strange how at a time when Germany and the USA could collude by agreeing to draw their final game, that Ghana's match fixing allegations are being brought into the public domain? The timing from a Ghanaian perspective couldn't be worse.

In case you weren't aware, a draw between Germany and the USA will result in both side qualifying to the next round regardless of the results elsewhere.The fascinating part of all of this is the coaching staff's connection between the USA and Germany. Jurgen Klinsmann, the current USA coach, was in charge of the German national team during the 2006 World Cup with none other than Joachim Loew (the current Germany boss) as his assistant. So we know there is a line of direct communication between them at worst and a strong relationship between them at best. Both managers have obviously denied that there is any conspiracy. But...Put it this way, I won't be at all surprised if the game ends in a draw. However I am hoping that Germany get the win we need.

Ultimately, we only have ourselves to blame for being in this situation. We lost the opening game to the USA and failed to find an improbable win against Germany. In both those matches we had very good chances to either create or score goals and we didn't take enough of them. Another area of concern is our leaky defending of set pieces, particularly corners. We have conceded against both our opponents directly from corner kicks, which suggests that this might be a problem and something to look out for during our final match against Portugal.

I don't want to be too critical of Ghana because there was a definite improvement in the team after the first game. Coach Appiah set the team up very well tactically (and seemingly took some of my advice) which resulted in marked improvement in the quality of the teams play against Germany. I think the players we have at our disposal are more comfortable playing on the break than they are dominating possession further up the pitch based on the evidence of the first two matches of the tournament. And because of that I would prefer we went with a similar tactical set up going into the Portugal match.

That's not to say we should do the exact same thing as we did against Germany. Far from it, the Portuguese have different strengths to the Germans. They are also better when they sit deep and counter. However in their first game I think they made a mistake by playing a high line against Germany and were punished. This may have been due to the fitness issues of their Talisman Cristiano Ronaldo. Playing on the counter means your forwards have to sprint longer distances to have opportunities to score. If your best player who also happens to be your best and fastest athlete AND your most obvious goal threat (which Ronaldo certainly is), isn't 100% fit, then it doesn't make sense to simply drop deep. I think that is the reason Portugal elected to push up the field so he doesn't have to cover as many long distances to goal.

The strength of the Portuguese is on their flanks. Manchester United's Nani and the aforementioned Ronaldo will pose the most threat the Ghanaian back line. Both their goals against the USA were created from wide. Upfront they don't have quite the same quality of player as they do out wide but our central defensive pairing should always be weary and intelligent with their defending. Against Germany our defending of the wide areas of the pitch wasn't the best but I believe that was part of our tactical set up. We knew the Germans would not play with much width, both of the players who play in those positions are really number 10's playing out wide and so affording them space out wide is the lesser of two evils. Not to mention the German full backs prefer to play centre back.

Against Portugal defending the flanks will go along way in stopping the supply line for their attacks. That means we need disciplined performances from our full backs Harrison Afful and Kojo Asamoah. We also need to be compact, which means we move as a solid unit across the pitch to cover the space that causes immediate danger rather than allowing too much space between each player in our team (like distances between defence midfield and attack). Another key difference in the set up will be how the midfield performs. Christian Atsu and Andre Ayew need to cover the runs of the opposition full backs to ease the pressure that our defence will face. Most importantly our central midfield, likely to be Rabiu Mohammed alongside either Agyemang Badu or Michael Essien (if he's fit), will need to spot any danger early and cover spaces that the Portuguese will try to exploit.

I think we should go with a similar line-up to our last game with the exception of Muntari (suspended) who will most likely be replaced by Essien. I think Kevin Prince Boateng should improve with another game under his belt. He's a more natural midfield player than a forward so he should be able to pitch in and help defensively. He wasn't at his best against Germany but hopefully he will have greater impact on the game this time. Our goal threat will be carried by our front three of Atsu, Ayew and our captain Asamoah Gyan. I think they have all the attributes to cause the Portuguese problems and score the goals we need for victory.

Overall I genuinely believe we can win the game, which may well be a battle of who can counter-attack better. I think that Ghana have the better athletes on the pitch (with the obvious exception of Ronaldo, but K. Bonsam has that covered!) and if we are more efficient and clever with how we approach the game particularly in the final third we have have a great opportunity to get the result we need. We must Must MUST be more concentrated on set pieces and avoid sloppy goals. If we are going to concede make sure our opponent does something spectacular to score rather than gifting them goals. The rest will be up to Germany to fulfil their end of the bargain. Anything less than a German victory and we're on the next flight to Kotoka. If you want to understand more about the different permutations for qualification, I wrote a post about it here.

Both games will start at 5pm GMT so I think most of us will be watching the Ghana match and also following the Germany game via whatever means we have available. I wish the Black Stars the best of luck tomorrow. Hopefully I will be writing my next post about our round of 16 opponents. Until next time.

You can follow me on twitter: @kwamberto

Ghana World Cup News Round-Up

Ghana Black Stars News Round-Up

Well... a lot has happened since our exhilarating 2-2 draw with ze Germans! After the final whistle blew in our game we all knew that the Portuguese would have to do us a favour for us to stay in the tournament. Their game kicked off last night at 11pm local time so I didn't watch it due to work commitments the following day. I went to bed knowing that Portugal were already 1-up after 5 minutes. Naturally I was hopeful that they were well on their way to giving the USA a sound beating and by doing so keeping our hopes alive. I woke up this morning to find out that Portugal hadn't done the business and in fact needed a last last gasp goal to equalise against the yanks. And even more surprisingly that wasn't the biggest news story affecting our national team today... (more on that later).

But we shall start with the USA v Portugal match. Just like our game against Germany the day before it ended in a 2-2 stalemate with the USA leading 2-1 as late as the 93rd minute!! (How agonisingly close it must have been for the Ghana and Porgutal fans that watched it live). Indeed had Cristiano Ronaldo not shaken off his niggling injury woes (and all the "work" Kwaku Bonsam is doing on him) to produce a quality cross for Silvestre Varela's equaliser in the 4th minute of stoppage time, we would have been out of the tournament.

I guess I speak for most Ghana fans and sympathisers alike when I say PHEW! As my wife would say we dodged a bullet with that one. But unfortunately we aren't out of the woods yet either. As we know anything less than victory for us means we are out. Aside from that we still need a number of different things to go our way to qualify. For the sake of simplicity I will try and break them down. In addition to a Ghana win, we also need:
a) Germany to beat the USA in their final game (anything less, we're out)
b) Ghana to have a better goal difference than the USA.

Just to make things clear to those of you that are anal, there is a scenario where Germany lose and we go through but I think that it's highly improbable. This would mean that Germany need to lose heavily to the USA (unlikely) and / or Ghana would probably need to win by a large margin against Portugal (not impossible but also unlikely) to overcome Germany's superior goal difference. Ghana would need a 5 goal swing in this scenario so I think USA losing is much better for us.

Now as things stand, Germany top the group with 4 points (goal diff of +4). The USA are second currently also with 4 (and goal diff +1). Ghana and Portugal sit in 3rd and 4th respectively with a point each (Ghana has a better goal diff of -1 compared to -4 for Portugal). So the margin of victory in both games will be crucial for Ghana. If Germany win by a single goal then Ghana has to win by 2 goals at least. If Germany hammer the USA like they did Portugal in their first game, or win by 2 goals or more then any victory for Ghana will do. 

Forgive my pessimism but I prefer the second scenario for us to qualify. Not because I don't think we can beat the Portuguese by 2 clear goals because I do... But rather because I believe that having such a specific target could create instability in the mentality of the team. I think its easier simply to go for a win and not have to worry about the margin of victory. We are relying on Germany getting a result anyway, if USA avoids defeat we are OUT so its better to focus on getting "the W" rather than worrying about goal difference in my opinion.

So, in conclusion A LOT of things have to go our way for us to qualify, but I think anything is possible. I am sure there will be a lot of prayers and good wishes for the team before the game on Thursday. Sulley Muntari is already creating good karma for himself and the team with his charitable acts in Brazil, which is lovely to see. I will be writing a preview for the game similar to the one I did for the Germany game on Wednesday so please be on the lookout for that.

In other Black Stars related news, there seems to be allegations of corruption by GFA officials selling the rights for friendly international games to match fixers. It was the front page story for some major UK news outlets. I don't want to add to much fuel to the fire here so I won't go into too much detail, but the GFA themselves have gone on record to say they reported this to the police. For more updates on this you can follow my timeline on twitter as I will post any major updates on this story there.

That's all from me. Until next time...

You can follow me on twitter: @kwamberto

Ghana vs. Germany Match Report

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.

Germany started the match with the same 11 that dismantled Portugal in their opening match. Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah made three personnel changes to the team that faced the USA. Fatau Dauda replaced Adam Kwarasey in goal, Harrison Afful came in for the erratic Daniel Opare and Kevin-Prince Boateng replaced Jordan Ayew. Ghana used a 5 man midfield with Gyan as a lone striker in a tactical switch in formation.

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.

You can follow me on twitter: @kwamberto

Ghana vs. Germany Preview: Question Marks Remain for the Black Stars

Question Marks Remain for the Black Stars

The dust seems to have settled following the USMNT's successful revenge mission on the Black Stars after losing to us in the two previous tournaments. Reports of team revolt after the game were quickly dismissed by the GFA (with them posting pictures of training, probably to ease our fears). Focus has now turned firmly onto the next must-not-lose game against Germany tomorrow.

With that being said there are a number of areas that Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah must learn from in order to correct some of the mistakes made against the Americans. Broadly speaking his team selection, tactical approach and in-game management were called to question by many fans and pundits alike (including myself admittedly). Here are a few areas I believe Ghana need to focus on to have any realistic chance against Muller, Ozil & co.

Experience counts: This is such an important game that we need to have as much composure and experience in the side as possible. This is naturally a balancing act, fitness levels must be gauged by the coaching staff but the likes of Michael Essien and Kevin Prince Boateng have strong cases to start on this basis alone. Although Mohammed Rabiu did relatively well in the defensive midfield role this is his first major international tournament and could do with an experienced defensive minded midfielder like an Essien or even an Agyemang Badu to play alongside him or even to replace him. 

In defence we opted for Daniel Opare at right back rather than the relatively more experienced Sam Inkoom. Opare seems like a relatively more energetic and offensive player but wasn't very effective with his runs and crosses down the right wing. Also defensively he doesn't look very assured. Coach Appiah would do well to select the more experienced right back when faced with the potential onslaught we are likely to deal with when Germany mount sustained attacks.

Ultimately Ghana needs to have leaders on the pitch in order to make sure we are able to stay composed and keep our defensive shape if we're faced with any pressure from the opposition. Experienced players are better placed to do this.

Tactical Approach: One thing we can learn from team USA is how they managed to squeeze the pitch defensively and make it difficult for our more technically gifted players to break them down. When facing Germany, Ghana will probably have to adopt a similar tactical approach to our American counterparts, which means dropping fairly deep and keeping two banks of four (with Appiah's preference for two strikers). Alternatively we could go for a 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 formation with at least one defensive midfield pivot keeping track of the runs of Germany's more creative players that will invariably try and get 'between the lines' and wreak havoc on our defence. I would opt to play Gyan as a lone striker with support from Andre Ayew with his younger brother dropping to the bench. This is the system we have used to great effect in previous world cups as it gives our numerous midfield options a better platform to shine and control games.

Irrespective of which formation the coach chooses to go with it is absolutely imperative that Ghana are switched on right from the off. An early deficit against a team of the quality of the USA wasn't totally disastrous but making the same mistake against a team of the caliber of Germany most certainly would be. Essentially our best bet tactically is to sit deep (but not too deep) and hit Germany on the break with the pace of Ayew and Gyan with KPB and maybe Muntari given licence to support them. Playing a five man midfield would also be ideal in making it difficult for the Germans to find space in our half of the pitch.

Overall we do need to have a disciplined approach but Ghana must not sacrifice too much of its cutting edge. To do this we mustn't get caught defending too deep. A good indicator will be whether we are defending just in front of the penalty box and not dropping as deep as the 6 yard box too often. This could make a difference in terms of carrying out our own counter attacks and exploiting the space that Germany may leave in behind searching for a breakthrough.

In-Game Adjustments: One of my gripes with our coach's performance in the previous game was the lack of dynamism in our play when it was clear that a lot of our approach play (particularly in the first half) was not working against the USA. Rather than holding onto possession and working the opposition around the pitch with clever runs from our midfield and strikers to create space, we were guilty of launching long balls and wayward crosses to our attackers time and time again. Our coach needs to spot these issues early and get instructions on the pitch to tweak our approach (if not our personnel). 

Although it is clear that Germany will pose the Black Stars very different problems to the ones they faced against the USA; What matters is that our coach is able to quickly identify issues with our setup and get instructions onto the pitch to make the adjustments needed to plug any gaps (or indeed exploit weaknesses in the opposition) that he is able to spot during the game. In a game like this we can't afford to wait until half time to adjust to our opponents as that could possibly be too late.

In conclusion Ghana do have work to do to get it right and its fair to say that Germany will be favorites for the game, however with the talent at our disposal and the right tactical approach and attitude we can cause Germany problems and take something from the game. Regardless of what players the coach selects or his tactical setup if the players do what is necessary with the right level of conviction anything is possible. Although we should respect the Germans we have nothing to fear if we play to our potential.

Fingers crossed we can pull off a shock tomorrow... 

You can follow me on twitter: @kwamberto

Ghana vs. USA Match Report

Individual Errors Cost Ghana Dear Against the USA

In what could be considered an elimination match, Ghana’s two key errors led to early and late goals for team USA that secured a vital victory for them. Although Ghana can and should take some positives from the game it was a bitterly disappointing result which leaves us a mountain to climb if we are to have any hope of qualifying for the next round.

In contrast to our last meeting with the USA four years ago in South Africa it was the USA that took a staggeringly early lead with just 29 seconds on the clock when Clint Dempsey waltzed past the hapless defending of John Boye before slotting past Adam Kwarasey in goal with a low strike into the corner of the net. It was the worst possible start for Ghana in what most would have considered a must win (or at worse a MUST-NOT-LOSE) game for both sides considering the relative strength of the other teams in the group.

To be fair to Ghana, after absorbing the shock of the early set back the Black Stars gradually took hold of the match by dominating possession and creating half chances to equalize. The issue was with Ghana’s preferred pattern of play which regularly resulted in long balls slung up top to our strike pair of Asamoah Gyan and Jordan Ayew and aimless crosses particularly down the right flank by the energetic if slightly raw pair of Christian Atsu and right back Daniel Opare. Although chances were at a premium, Ghana were causing the USA problems as Jurgen Klinsmann's side ceded the territorial advantage by dropping deeper and deeper into their own half happy to defend and launch counter attacks when possible. This tactic meant Ghana found it hard to break down the stubborn American resistance to our attacks, with only Asamoah Gyan’s long shot troubling their ‘keeper. Jordan Ayew could and should have done better when Atsu broke down the right wing and pulled the ball back to the Sochaux striker only for him to tamely hit the ball into the hands of the grateful keeper.

The score remained 0-1 to the Americans at the half. Ghana’s performance did improve in the second half with slight variation in play with more balance in attack. Juventus' left wing back Kwadwo Asamoah was having greater influence on play and getting on the ball to fire in dangerous crosses. A glorious chance to equalise came from a great cross from the left by AC Milan’s Sulley Muntari but unfortunately Asamoah Gyan’s header wasn't on target and did not test US & Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard. Ghana peppered the US goal with further shots from Atsu, Asamoah and Muntari without success. At this point it was clear that Ghana was the technically superior team and with the introduction of Kevin Prince Boateng (replacing the ineffective Jordan Ayew) it did look as though only one team was likely to score at that point.

The equaliser did eventually arrive in the 83rd minute after consistent Ghanaian pressure culminating in a nice move coming once again from our left side. Neat interplay between Asamoah and Ayew resulted into Gyan finding space down the left side of the USA penalty box. A clever back heal from Gyan into the path of the onrushing Ayew created Ghana’s best chance of the game and the son of Abedi ‘Pele’ Ayew did not disappoint with his left footed finish low to the near post. Finally Ghana’s pressure had told and the game was level, you got the feeling there was only one team that would go onto to win it, however that wasn't the case.

The energy exerted chasing the game seemed to take effect on Ghana as they weren't able to find any rhythm after their goal. In fact it was the US team that were galvanized into action further up the pitch, where they had offered precious little in the second half. Substitute Graham Zusi and Fabian Johnson did manage to create a few scares by breaking down the left side of Ghana’s defence. This was also the channel to which good hustle play by the United States created the decisive corner kick. In what should have been a goal kick to Ghana, centre back Jonathan Mensah showed a lack of composure in this situation and was unable to let the ball roll out of play without touching it due to the pressure he was under from US right back Fabian Johnson.

The corner from Zusi was perfect for his fellow US sub John Brooks who powered home a header that left Ghana's keeper little chance to save it. Parity that Ghana had worked so hard for only lasted 3 minutes. Once again we were caught cold with another American sucker punch. Ghana weren't able to muster any danger in the waning minutes of the match and the game ended in a famous victory for the USA. Sweet revenge for America means Ghana is left to rue their missed chances as well as their tactical approach and team selection. Many questions will be asked of the Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah after electing not to start with Boateng or Michael Essien. Upfront our two strikers often occupied the same spaces and made similar runs into the box meaning it was more difficult to pick anyone out with our numerous crosses that were meat and drink the bigger and taller American central defenders.

The Black Stars will need to regroup quickly as they now have the daunting task of needing to take points (including at least 1 win) from games against European giants Germany and Portugal to have any hope of qualifying for the next round. We should take positives from this game knowing all in all, we were the better team and our mistakes rather than any brilliance from the Americans cost us the game. Immediate improvement is needed to restore pride and hope for qualification in our next game against three times champions Germany.

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