Day 13: They’re Ghana Keep Going

Slovenia 0 – 1 England

USA 1 – 0 Algeria

Ghana 0 – 1 Germany

Australia 2 – 1 Serbia

It’s been a good day for the first African World Cup as Ghana reached the last sixteen ensuring that at least one nation from the continent can carry the local support into the second round. I’ll come to the Group D resolution in a few moments, after I’ve dealt with Group C, where England produced an acceptable performance to beat Slovenia and scrape through to schedule a defeat to Germany on Sunday.

If you were watching England edge Slovenia on the BBC you would be forgiven for thinking that it was the most impressive performance since records began. It is a sad indictment of just how bad the first two games have been for Fabio Capello et al that Guy Mowbray and Mark Lawrenson were purring as if they were watching Brazil circa 1970, because England were not exactly what I’d call impressive in victory. They were certainly much improved, pulling themselves together after a first few minutes that were largely in the same tone as the Algeria game. After about fifteen minutes things started to settle – Steven Gerrard actually listened to his manager’s instructions and stuck more strictly to the left wing, which allowed for better link-ups with Ashley Cole, who was one of England’s better attacking influences. James Milner, replacing Aaron Lennon, put in a much better performance than his stinker against the USA, showing the drive and work-rate he’s been putting in for Aston Villa this season, and gave much better end product than Lennon, the more natural winger, by providing some great crosses, none better than that which led to the only goal of the game. I don’t often have much to say in favour of Jermain Defoe, I’ve never really rated his ability to influence a game, but he made an excellent timed run to meet the cross and volleyed too strongly for the otherwise brilliant Samir Handanovic to save.

England continued to dominate through the first half without really creating many more great opportunities. The first twenty minutes of the second half should have seen them cement the victory though, Defoe in particular narrowly missing a chance he should have done much better with, and Handanovic being equal to a John Terry header that looked promising. But England just couldn’t pull the trigger and it became evident that Slovenia were becoming more confident from being reprieved. Towards the end things got tense as England were mostly on the defensive, and substitute Zlatko Dedic would have scored if not for an immense last-ditch tackle from Matthew Upson. England were overall worth the win, Slovenia having not really fulfilled the promise from their first half against the USA, but they will need to be far more ruthless if they are to stand a chance against a Germany side who are better all over the pitch than Slovenia (except for in goal). This performance was the minimum that is required from a side with quarter- or semi-final aspirations.

I saw very little of the USA-Algeria game but enough to recognise some shameful finishing from Rafik Djebbour for Algeria, and Jozy Altidore of the US, who blazed ridiculously over the bar from barely any distance out at all. It’s a good thing the States got the win because they had for the second time in this group had a perfectly reasonable goal disallowed, this time for offside, but the complaining that I read from some Americans on the web to the tune of “if FIFA wants us to be interested in the World Cup, stop giving us bad referees” was silly – bad referees happen to everyone. It’s part of being a fan. Anyway, I am pleased that the USA got through, I think it would have set back football in that country if they hadn’t, and they are quite a fun side to watch, more so than Slovenia. I would fancy their chances of making the quarter-finals, as well.

And so to Group D, where I would say that Ghana secured their qualification, but they didn’t really – it was thanks to Australia that they made it through. Ghana themselves lost an exciting and open game to Germany. It could have gone either way in the first half, with plenty of chances for either side and a suspicion of handball against Phillipp Lahm who blocked a goalbound header from a Ghanaian corner. Mesut Oezil was the star of the show again for Germany, making brilliant forward runs and slippery passes, and he scored the only goal of the game, an absolute belter from outside the area that Richard Kingson, who had a pretty good game generally, could do nothing to stop. Germany were clearly missing Miroslav Klose – Cacau just doesn’t seem as influential and powerful up front – but pressed their advantage in the second half as Ghana started to run out of ideas.

Ghana attacked plenty, with Kevin Prince-Boateng playing with freedom and adventure, but couldn’t quite find the goal they needed, which means that they have qualified, the first team in my memory to do so, without having scored a goal from open play. Only two Asamoah Gyan penalties have earned them their passage and it is arguable that they did not so much deserve to get through the group as Australia, who picked themselves up remarkably from their opening defeat. Gyan will need to assert himself more against the USA and those who surround him, particularly Andre Ayew, must polish their shooting boots, to find the finishing to reward their industrious midfield play.

As I say, it’s something of a shame for Australia not to have qualified. Their typically plucky effort to recover from what looked like a disastrous opening hammering at the hands of Germany culminated in a 2-1 win over Serbia that ended Radomir Antic’s hopes of leading his team to the next round. I wasn’t able to take in a great deal of the flow of the game but I was impressed by the Australian goals, two in four minutes that briefly raised hopes of the miraculous four-goal swing that they needed to displace Ghana. The first was a typical strong header from the returning Tim Cahill, exactly the sort of late run and score that Australia had hoped to use much more of before his unfortunate dismissal against Germany, and the second was a brilliant long range shot from Brett Holman, who was allowed too much space by Serbia and hit low and powerfully past Vladimir Stojkovic. Holman’s a player who I am told has been heavily criticised by Australian fans but I’ve been really impressed by what I’ve seen of him at this World Cup – I’d be interested to see what Australians now think of him. He may be their Owen Hargreaves now.

So today has set up USA-Ghana on Saturday and Germany-England on Sunday. My instinct would be to expect wins for both the group-toppers. Germany have looked far better and more cohesive than England and Oezil is exactly the sort of player who has far too much intelligence and pace for the likes of John Terry to cope with. The USA will need to match Ghana’s midfield work-rate but as long as they don’t concede any penalties I don’t see where Ghana’s goals are going to come from at this rate.

Man of the Day: Oezil. I’ve just been so impressed by him throughout the group stages and he showed today he has goalscoring power as well as creativity.

Tomorrow, Groups E and F reach their conclusion (although for some reason Group F will play the afternoon fixtures). I’m going to stick my neck out and say that draws for Italy and New Zealand against Slovakia and Paraguay respectively will see the first use of the drawing of lots to decide a World Cup elimination (though I am aware that this is unlikely, I just can’t bet against the All Whites). The Netherlands will probably field a team of reserves but Arjen Robben should be back and they should beat Cameroon who have nothing to play for, while I think Japan’s greater defensive organisation will allow them to edge out Denmark.