 | Guest Column P. K. Banerjee |
There was this placard at the Loftus Verfeld Stadium in Pretoria saying “Feel it! Ghana is here”! Well, pardon me for not fully agreeing to that slogan. Ghana might have started the World Cup with a win but Serbia would definitely consider themselves unlucky.
Even after being down to 10 men, — Alekasandar Lukovic was sent off by the referee after picking up a second yellow card for pulling back Asamoah Gyan — they were not bogged down. And just when the Serbian camp was thinking of pulling off a draw, disaster struck.
A moment of madness in the 83rd minute by substitute Zdravko Kuzmanovic let the Dejan Stankovics down. Kuzmanovic gave away a penalty for handball as he fisted away a deep cross from the left and Gyan converted with confidence.
The Ghana bench erupted in joy but I felt bad for Serbia. They might have been overtly cautious in the first half, hardly making any attempt to disturb the Ghanaian goalkeeper Richard Kingson. In the second half, they could have got at least two before that hand ball blunder.
Once when Nikola Zigic failed to tap in a cross from the left and then Milos Krasic’s powerful volley from just 10 metres was saved by Kingson.
Krasic’s shot had the power but it had no placement. And it was easy meat for Kingson who fisted it away. I have a feeling that Krasic never thought that Marko Pantelic would fail to connect the low cross and was caught off-guard. And how did Zigic fail to tap in from handshaking distance would also remain a mystery.
Both the teams started very cautiously and adapted the long pass tactics. But both the back-fours were very organised and that hardly gave the strikers any room in the attacking third. Each time Zigic or Krasic had the ball at least three to four Ghana defenders would be there to close them down. It gets very annoying for a striker when he is not given any space and in those cases they tend to lose their temper. Luckily that did not happen with either Zigic or Krasic.
I was also surprised to see Krasic not given the freedom to have a go at the rival defence. His briefing was to play from the behind and that somewhat curbed his natural attacking instincts.
Ghana played well, particularly Asamoah Gyan. Even though he missed chances, he was very lively on the pitch and had luck been on his side he would have got a hattrick. Once his downward header off a long throw-in bounced against the post and went wide and then at the fag end of the match his curling shot evaded Kingson’s Wigan teammate Vladimir Stojkovic and hit the post.
On the eve of the World Cup, I had talked about atleast one African team going to the semi-finals this time. Incidentally, Ghana are the first African nation to win a match in this World Cup. But after watching Nigeria and Ghana’s performance, I have my doubts whether these teams would be able to make the last four cut. Both did not show the promise of going to the last four. Cameroon and Ivory Coast haven’t played yet and I sincerely hope one of them prove me right.
As far as Serbians are concerned, this loss have certainly pegged them back. In a group which also have Germany and Australia, the East Europeans now face an uphill task.
TEAMS
Ghana: Richard Kingson; John Pantsil, John Mensah, Isaac Vorsah, Hans Sarpei, Anthony Annan, Kwadwo Asamoah (Stephen Appiah 73), Dede Ayew, Kevin-Prince Boateng (Lee Addy 90+1); Asamoah Gyan (Quincy Owusu-Abeyie 90+3), Prince Tagoe.
Serbia: Vladimir Stojkovic; Branislav Ivanovic, Nemanja Vidic, Aleksandar Lukovic, Aleksandar Kolarov, Milos Krasic, Dejan Stankovic, Nenad Milijas (Zdravko Kuzmanovic 62) Milan Jovanovic (Neven Subotic 76), Nikola Zigic (Danko Lazovic 69), Marko Pantelic.
Referee: Hector Baldassi (Argentina)
