Competition: 2010 World Cup
Teams: 0 Ghana vs Germany 1
Venue: Soccer City Stadium - Johannesburg
Date: June 23, 2010
Time: 20:30 Local Time [6:30PM Ghana Time]
Ghana will play the United States in the second round of the World Cup despite losing 1-0 to Germany in the final Group D clash.
The Black Stars once again remain the only African side through to the round of 16 as they did in 2006.
An improved second half display saw the Germans go in front 15 minutes after the break through Mesut Oezil’s shot which flew into the far corner of goalkeeper Richard Kingson’s goal.
The Black Stars had countless opportunities to have scored on the day as Andre Ayew, Asamoah Gyan and Kwadwo Asamoah failed to beat German keeper Manuel Neuer.
Ghana goalkeeper Kingson put in a great save, sticking out his legs to block a shot by Cacau.
But the Black Stars had the better of the goal scoring chances in the opening half as Gyan saw his goal bound header blocked by the arm of Philip Lahm but referee Carlos Simon waved play on.
Minutes before that incident, the German captain did well to prevent the Ghana striker from getting the opener when he put in a timely block to a shot from six yards.
The game stayed goalless for the opening 45 minutes as both sides kept their hopes of qualification from Group D alive.
Germany looked better in the second half as Ghana struggled to match her first half performance. The Germans got that crucial goal which secured their progress to the last 16 stage.
Milovan Rajevac made his first substitution of the evening, bringing on Sulley Muntari for Prince Tagoe four minutes after the opener.
Matthew Amoah was sent on for Gyan with eight minutes to regulation time as the Black Stars went in search for the equalizer and completed the changes with the introduction of Dominic Adiyiah for Ayew.
But the scoreline remained the same as the result in the other group match between Serbia and Australia which ended 2-1 for the Aussies ensured that the Black Stars play the United States in the round of 16 at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg on Saturday.
The Black Stars finished second on four points to Germany who had six in Group D with Serbia and Australia exiting the tournament.
Line up: Richard Kingson, John Paintsil, Hans Adu Sarpei, Jonathan Mensah, John Mensah, Anthony Annan, Prince Tagoe/Sulley Muntari, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Asamoah Gyan/Matthew Amoah, Kwadwo Asamoah, Andre Ayew/Dominic Adiyiah
Subs: Daniel Agyei, Samuel Inkoom, Isaac Vorsah, Lee Addy, Rahim Ayew, Derek Boateng, Stephen Appiah, Sulley Muntari, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Mathew Amoah, Dominic Adiyiah, Stephen Ahorlu