From Abdulai M. Gariba, A GNA Special Correspondent, Rustenburg, South Africa
Rustenberg, June 20, GNA - The Black Stars of Ghana have assumed leadership of their Group at the 2010 World Cup, after splitting points with Australia in their second group D game at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, in Rustenberg on Saturday.
The Stars now lead the table with four points, with Germany and Serbia trailing on three points each whilst Australia occupies the fourth position with a point.
In a game, which many expected the Stars to win to secure a more comfortable six points lead to place them in the second round of the competition, the Stars were forced to come back from a goal deficit to keep their unbeaten run in the competition intact.
It was a perfect start for the badly bruised Socceroos, having lost their first game 0-4 to Germany they were determined to redeem their image. They had the better part of the early exchanges and made some inroads into the Ghanaians' defence, which was without the resolute pair of John Mensah and Isaac Vorsah due to injuries. The Australians got the opener in the 11th minute through Brett Holman.
This was after goalie Richard Kingston had failed to make a first time grab of a 30-yard free-kick delivered by Mark Bresciano, as the ball fell on the path of Holman, who made no mistake in directing it into the net.
Though Ghana struggled to put their acts together and play fluently as they did in the first game against Serbia, they managed to cancel the lead in the 24th minute through a spot kick.
It was workaholic Andre Ayew, who dribbled into the area of the Aussies and he laid to debutant Jonathan Mensah, whose goal-bound shot was handled by Harry Kewell for the referee to whistle for a penalty. Leading marksman Asamoah Gyan made a perfect conversion of the penalty to put the Stars at level. The Stars took over the game from this stage taking advantage of their numerical strength after Kewell was given the marching-off order for the handball incident.
Nonetheless, the Stars could not take advantage of the situation to win the day and they allowed the Aussies to match them equally at every department of the game, though the Black Stars created several scoring chances in the later stages of the first and the second halves. It was a game the Stars could have won, as a 49th minute shot from Gyan was punched into play by the goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer of the Socceroos, but there was no one to connect. Again an intelligent chip by Gyan in the 60th minute was parried off to corner by Schwazer again.
The Stars had much of the dominance in the second half even though the Aussies came close in the 67th and the 71st minutes but goalie Kingson, made a perfect save of the situation, pushing Scott Chipperfield header into play and another effort Luke Wilkshire, Ghana returned the pressure on the Aussies, in the last ten minutes of the game with substitutes Quincy Owusu Abeyie and Sulley Muntari aiding the attack to find the winner, but in all circumstances, the numerous chances created were blown off till the close of the game, but not without a casualty. Black Stars John Painstil was stretched off the field after he clashed with his team mate Jonathan Mensah and bled profusely through his nose.
The Stars will need a minimum of a draw in their final group game against Germany to ensure qualification to the next stage of the competition. The four-point, however makes the Stars leadership of the group a shaky one because they could be eliminated if beaten by the Germans.
Line Up Ghana: Richard Kingson, Hans Sarpei, Asamoah Gyan, John Pantsil, Anthony Annan, Jonathan Mensah, Prince Tagoe/Mathew Amoah, Andre Ayew, Lee Addy, Kwadwo Asamoah, Sulley Muntari, Kevin Prince Boateng/Quincy Abeyie
Australia: Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Luke Wilkshire, Harry Kewell, Brett Holman, Carl Valeri, David Carney, Marco Bresciano 20 June 10
