Referee: Héctor Baldassi (Argentina)
LINEUPS:
Serbia (433): Stojkovic, Ivanovic, Kolarov, Vidic, Lukovic, Ninkovic (Tosic 73'), Stankovic, Kuzmanovic, Zigic, Jovanovic (Mrdja 81'), Krasic (Pantelic 56')
Ghana (451): Kingson, Pantsil, Sarpei, John Mensah, Johnathon Mensah, Annan, Asamoah, Tagoe (I Ayew 73'), Gyna, Prince-Boateng (Amaoh 66'), A Ayew (Owusu-Abeiye 85')
Serbia set their stall out to defend for ninety minutes and while it was what some term as anti-football it almost earned them a point. Ghana dominated possession but first half chances were limited with Asamoah forcing an early save out of Stojkovic and then heading over. More attacks were foiled by the active Serbian keeper claiming numerous crosses throughout the match.
The second half brought more of the same as Serbia built a strong wall around their penalty area with the likes of Ivanovic and Kolarov committing themselves to the cause by abandoning any hope of getting forward. There would be two bits of bad news for the Serbs though. First, an injury to forward Milan Jovanovic puts him out of action for the next three matches. The bigger loss however was their defeat in the final minute of the match.
While the Serbian wingbacks were only thinking defence, the Ghanaian widemen were getting forward at every opportunity. One of these, Pantsil, had his cross blocked by an arm resulting in a free kick near the right side touchline. With bodies filling the box John Mensah was able to climb highest and nod the ball down to Kwadho Asamoah who finally broke the deadlock as the game headed into stoppage time. And just as Mr Baldassi was about to blow the final whistle Asamoah won his side a corner that Amoah, standing on the near post, flicked on for Gyan to cap off his high octane performance.
Serbia 0 - 2 Ghana
Goalscorers:
GHA Asamoah 89'
GHA Gyan 90'
Discipline:
SRB Stankovic 12'
SRB Krasic 55'
Man of the Match:
GHA Asamoah Gyan
GROUP D | ||||||||
Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
Ghana | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 3 |
Germany | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Australia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Serbia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 |
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