GROUP D: Germany 1 Ghana 0:EUROPE'S OLD firm meet again. Germany's dubious reward for this tight victory over Ghana is a meeting with England on Sunday afternoon in Bloemfontein. Wayne Rooney gets his wish; he will meet the country that has always been the litmus test of English ambition and nerve. Franz Beckenbauer might be wishing he had not been quite so cavalier in his criticisms of Fabio Capello's team this morning.
It will be tense. It will be gripping. Their may be penalties. It is the first time the old enemies have met in a competitive football match back in September 2001. On their last occasion, Emile Heskey and Michael Owen ran riot in Munich when England piled a 5-1 humiliation on the Germans. Different times. How Capello will wish that any of his forwards could catch fire like that in the Free State Capital.
Luck shone on the Black Stars of Ghana here in Johannesburg. For seconds after the final whistle, they believed they had been eliminated because of Mesut Oezil’s elegant strike, one of the few clean chances that Germany had produced. Then word filtered through that Australia had somehow beaten Serbia.
Suddenly, the defeated players began running towards the Ghanaian flags and the locals in the crowd of 83,391 began dancing, the defeat now forgotten. They will play USA in Rustenberg on Saturday and if they start scoring, they are going to be a handful.
Germany lived dangerously here. Their organisation and discipline could not prevent the Ghanaians from breaking through on several occasions and with cooler finishing, the African side could have enjoyed a famous victory. But Germany’s composure, particularly after Ozil’s strike out of the blue, was exemplary in the last quarter of the match.
The injury to Michael Ballack may catch up with them yet. His absence has placed a greater responsibility on Bastien Schweinsteiger’s shoulders. The Germans very much play through the Bayern man, who last night dropped deep in front of the back four looking to unglue the Ghanaian cover with low, precise passing.
But Milovan Rajevac sent out a team with instructions not to cut out the European luxury of slow advances from the back and from the beginning, the Black Stars pressed up as soon as Germany took possession. Per Mertesacker, Germany’s rangy is not exactly lightning centre back, came close to a terrible mistake in the 21st minute when he elected to chest a high ball and gave life to George Best’s immortal observation – “he could trap it further than I could kick it” – when it bounced into the path of Andre Ayew.
The pass through to Gyan was slightly too heavy but Ghana had caught the Germans out. Mertesacker rode his luck again in the 50th minute when the ball skidded off his foot and into the path of Kwadwo Asamoah. He was through the last German line and although the shot was tame, Maneul Neuer’s solid stop kept Germany’s World Cup beating.
There was plenty of threat at the other end of the field as well. Mesut Ozil seemed as surprised as everyone else in the stadium when he chased down a pass from a glaringly offside position and forced a decent save from Richard Kingson, who looked sharp in the opening half.
Joachim Loew’s surprise decision to select Jerome Boateng added spice to a match that hardly needed any. The German defender, who has agreed to move from Hamburger SV to Manchester City this summer, is engaged with a much publicised feud with his half-brother, Ghana’s combative midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng.
The pair shook hands before the kick-off and the pattern of play did not bring them within spitting distance in the first half thereafter. But there were several ripe exchanges, with Ayew drawing a yellow card for a tackle that left Cacau rolling around and then Muller joining him in the notebook for clattering Gyan. It remained goalless at half-time and with no score in the corresponding match between Serbia and Australia, the stakes were rising with each passing minute.
German fans must have been wondering how they were going to engineer a path through the Ghanaian defence when they did just that. The game had fallen into a lull and Muller, ambling along the right wing saw Ozil loitering on the edge of Ghana’s box. Both Mensahs of the Ghanaian central defence seemed stunned as the Werder Bremen man chipped the ball and let fly with a beautiful left-footed strike.
Ghana kept pressing. Philipp Lahm was the chief thorn in their side, stopping a header by Gyan on his own goal line in the 26th minute and getting getting a deflection on a cracking shot by Ayew. But as the seconds ticked down, Ghana must have felt as if they were destined to go down.
Germany threatened little after their single goal and at times looked vulnerable as the Ghanaians went for broke.
They enjoyed a composed performance from the maligned KP Boetang and Gyan, who menaced the German defence all evening but they failed to find the elusive goals.
Two penalties, though, have secured their passage to the next round. It is likely they will fly the flag for the entire continent.
Germany and England is a more local scrap. England’s football history revolves around this rivalry. The golden generation had best start practising penalties.
