Goal-shy Ghana have unique opportunity

In the end it was a close shave but in a system where teams always have second chances, the Black Stars have been handed the opportunity to drive their way up in world football with the World Cup knock out stages finally here.

Sometime even for those of us who have followed the Stars from close range, they do not fail to confound. Either they create little and yet win or these days they create so many opportunities but can only score from the penalty spot.

Rajevac spoke about a lack of composure in front of goal when trying to explain the perplexing situation. In that final group game against Germany, no way should the Black Stars have lost if they had their scoring boots on.

Good thing is they live to fight another day, at least one more time at the magnificent Royal Bakokeng Stadium in the sleepy town of Rustenburg. The opponents are familiar.

The USA were badly hurt by Ghana's 2-1 win in Nuremburg in Germany four years ago that secured the Black Stars passage into the second round of the 2006 World Cup.

They will be up for it again and after the first group stage when Ghana amassed less points than they did four years ago, it is clear the team must up their game in one crucial area to inflict further pain of the Americans.

It will be in the art of putting the ball at the back of the net. In the last eleven internationals, Ghana has not scored more than once per game. They have won many of those by single goal margins, including at the 2010 Nations Cup when the inspired Kwadwo Asamoah-Asamoah Gyan combination brought two goals in the crucial stages of the competition.

Gyan has kept his nerve twice from the penalty spot in South Africa but not from open play and you wonder how long Ghana can get away with that. Kwadwo Asamoah however has not lived up to the billing here maybe because we set the billing too high.

He has still showed flashes of absolute brilliance with some of his passing here but maybe like Milovan Rajevac says he tends to hang onto the ball for too long at times and must learn to release them early.

Rajevac reckons too that Prince Tagoe is a player shot on confidence. "He does his defensive work well but when it comes to the attacking part he has not done same, was the blunt assessment of the Serbia. He looks like a player shot on confidence."

Rajevac insists Tagoe has not played as badly as has been suggested but he admits it is one of those areas he is mulling his options in.

Whatever options he comes up with, it seems that will not include shifting Kevin-Prince Boateng over to that side yet. The Serbian claims he is short on defensive midfielders which may well be a slap in the face of Derek Boateng and while he admits the other Boateng has been terrific in the final pass and can play very well on the right, he says he is forced to confine him to defensive midfield.

The if's are quite a lot ahead of the USA game. What is certain is this represents a much more doable opportunity to reach the last eight of the world cup than Brazil provided four years ago. And if Ghana does not take it, you wonder when they can match the achievements of Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002 and do the continent's reputation proud at its own World Cup.