Tuesday, 15 June 2010

More Gyan Than Hartleys: Serbia 0-1 Ghana


Serbia line-up: Stojkovic, Kolarov, Vidic, Ivanovic, Pantelic, Stankovic (c), Milijas (Kuzmanovic, 62'), Lukovic, Jovanovic (Subotic, 76'), Zigic (Lazovic, 69'), Krasic
Ghana line-up: Sarpei, Gyan (Owusu-Obeyie, 93'), Pantsil, Mensah (c), Annan, Tagoei, Ayew, Vorsah, Asamoah (Appiah, 73'), Boateng (Addy, 91')

Forget the first 75 minutes of this match and you had a classic. Again the fans were Mexican waving after the first 20 minutes of nothingness from either team. Neither team seemed to have a goal in them as play in the final thirds was woeful. Ghana seemed to have the better spells of play and kept their defence very tight.

However the game sparked into life when Lukovic got himself a second yellow card and Serbia were down to ten. This actually seemed to wake Serbia up as their best spells came after the sending off. Then a teasing cross from Ghana was despicably handled by Kuzmanovic and the first penalty of the tournament was awarded. Up stepped Asamoah Gyan who slotted calmly past a decent looking Stoijkovic. The game wasn't over as Serbia's second wind drove them forward and Kuzmanovic nearly made up for his mistake but he blasted just wide. The action continued as Gyan was put through one-on-one where he hit the post and Serbia was saved from a 2-0 defeat.

Overall the big name players for Serbia like Krasic didn't perform and although Zigic provided decent hold-up play, nothing was made from it. But the last 15 minutes of this game completely outshone the rest of the game.



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