Flying start for Stars at the 2010 World

Pretoria (S.A), June 13, GNA - The Black Stars of Ghana got off to flying start at the 19th Edition of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) World Cup with a lone goal victory over the much dreaded Serbia at the Loftus Versfield, Stadium in Pretoria on Sunday.

It was a victory that sent jubilation on the streets of South Africa, as it represented the first win by an African country in the three-day old competition, after Nigeria and Algeria failed in their opening matches while host nation South Africa could only manage a draw.

But it was a hard fought victory for the Stars, who though exhibited a perfect passing game in midfield, supported by a resolute defence had to struggle till the last stages of the game before securing the winner due to a well rehearsed strategy of the Serbs that cut the supply lines to Asamoah Gyan and Prince Tagoe, Stars two strikers.

With the presence of a Serbian on the bench of Ghana, the pattern of play from the two sides at a stage looked similar as they both adopted, quick passing game and a counter attack approach with Gyan, Kwadjo Asamoah and Tagoe missing some few chances while Nikola Zigic and Marco Pantalic also seem not be keen on winning the day for their side by blowing off some scoring opportunities before the 30th minute mark in the first half.

The Stars on most occasions dominated the game, with Andre Aryew, Tagoe, Kevin Prince Boateng and Asamoah initiating many raids in the area of their opponents, which was given a similar response by Stankovic and Pantelic supported by overlapping Ivanovic.

But the efforts of the two sides were not enough to see them on the lead before the close of the first half, leaving the half barren.

A more purposeful performance from the two sides indicated the willingness by the Stars and the Serbs to grab the first three points in group D, with Zigic having his shot at goal diverted from its course to enable Anthony Annan to make a clearance in the 59th minute, with a similar attempt also dealt with by Isaac Vorsah.

Ghana took control from this stage and created two decent chances that could have seen Gyan open the scores in the 60th minute, but again, his header was pushed to corner, which was subsequently wasted.

Stars Ratomir Rajevic, in the 73rd introduced the more experienced Stephen Appiah for Asamoah as they probed for the opener, dominating proceedings and raided the area of Serbia on many occasions but to no avail.

With a difficult task at hand and many unsuccessful attempts, the Stars seemed to have their job well cut out for them, when they were handed a numerical advantage after the exit of Alexsander Lukovic for pulling down Gyan in the 75th minute. The Serbians were thus handed a lot more difficult job of containing the Ghanaians, hence the unfortunate handling of the ball by substitute Zdravko Kuzmanovic for Argentine referee Hector Baldassi to point to the penalty spot in the 85th minute. Gyan swerved the goalkeeper for the lone goal and the eventual winner to send the red, yellow and green dominated stadium into frenzy. The Stars held on to the lead despite several attempts by the Serbs to at least fetch an equaliser to keep their dreams of staying till the next round of the competition alive.

Ghana is therefore in a perfect position to make an advance to the next stage of the game if they are able to win the next game against Australia on Saturday.

LINE UP: GHANA Richard Kingson, John Painstil, Hans Adu Sarpei, John Mensah, Isaac Vorsah, Anthony Annan, Andre Aryew, Kevin Prince Boateng/Lee Arday, Asamoah Gyan/Owusu Abeyie, Prince Tagoe, Kwadjo Asamoah/Stephen Appiah

SERBIA Vladimir Stojkovic, Aleksander Kolarov, Nemanja Vidic, Marco Pantelic, Branislav Ivanov, Aleksander Lukovic, Dejan Stankovic, Nenad Milijas, Milos Krasic, Nikola Zigic, Milan Javanovic/Subo,

(William Ezah, GNA Special Correspondent, Pretoria, South Africa)