Tactical observations from the World Cup: Ghana

ot since November last year, when it drew 2-2 with Mali in a World Cup qualifier in Kumasi, has Ghana scored twice in a game, and yet in that time it has reached the final of the African Cup of Nations and, after two games of Group D, looks the likeliest of the African teams to reach the knockout phase. Of its past seven competitive games, four have been won 1-0, and only Ivory Coast, which inflicted a 3-1 defeat in the Cup of Nations, has managed to score more than one against Ghana's defense.

Coach Milovan Rajevac has said repeatedly that he cares far less about style than he does winning, but there is an elegance in Ghana's defensiveness. The method is simple: leave Asamoah Gyan high up the pitch in a 4-2-3-1, with three creative midfielders -- Prince Tagoe, Kwadwo Asamoah and Dede Ayew -- breaking to join him when Ghana is in possession, but sitting deep in what is very much a five-man midfield when it doesn't.

Where Ghana really excels is by frustrating opponents and, when it takes the lead, holding possession and controlling space. When it beat Angola in the Cup of Nations quarterfinal and then Nigeria in the semifinal, it looked utterly assured in its 1-0 lead. Ghana's problem comes when it falls behind or the onus is on it to take the game to the opposition, as it was against Australia on Saturday. Then it lost shape, repeatedly took the wrong option in the attacking third and unleashed a debilitatingly large number of speculative long-range shots. Against Germany on Wednesday, though, needing only a draw to reach the second round, it can return to doing "the compact thing," as captain John Mensah puts it; unless it manages an early goal, Germany will not find it easy.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/soccer/world-cup-2010/writers/jonathan_wilson/06/22/tactical/#ixzz0reEVqMQz