Serbia v. Ghana 0-1 13/Jun/10

First Round, First Game, Group D, Day 3. (7 of 64)


The late and only goal of the evening.
[Photo: Getty Images via Soccernet]


In the first match of Group D the Serbian team, through Kusmanovic, gifted the Africans all three points at Pretoria earlier in the day. The game from the Serbians was far from being brilliant; with performances like this I think that the state of such improvised tactics is by far the antithesis of what we would like to see at the World Cup. Even when Gyan had a late chance denied by the woodwork, the point of no-return made by Antic's men took its toll when in different stances Zigic and Pantelic scrapped precious chances.

Again as in the Algeria match, we saw a stupid mistake handball. Whether in that match it proved to be irrelevant, here it costed the precious victory. We saw in the opening game the inability of Mexico's full-backs to deal with the longer balls and this time, another miscalculation was what really costed the Serbians. Things do look ugly for they will face Germany at Nelson Mandela Bay in five days' time. On the other side Ghana face the Socceroos at Rustenburg.



Lukovic sent off after a moronic hand ball.
[Photo: PA via Daily Mail]


Efforts from set pieces or from the sides were particularly what prevailed in the first half. The first of them was a cross from Tagoe which found the young Ayew; the play was called offside. Pantelic crossed to Zigic, who failed to strike in what appeared to be a clear goal-scoring opportunity for the Europeans. The long balls from the Serbian centre-backs were the main threat as they jumped down the lines to find the wingers. A Pantsil throw in the Rory Delap's style got onto Gyan's head, the outcome, a decent save by Stojkovic.

Aside from the usual exchange in possession in the first twenty minutes of the second part the African side did not offered much to break Antic's defence. Lukovic got sent off in the 74th after collecting his second yellow card of the night. As Gyan flew past him, the Serbian defender grabbed him by the arm and immediately was awarded with his second card. Serbia's attacking options appeared finally through a Krasic shot Kingson palmed. The terrible experience appeared when Kuzmanovic handballed in the box with seven minutes remaining; Gyan converted and he could have doubled the lead with a late shot on woodwork.