GROUP D SERBIA 0 GHANA 1:THE MODERN World Cup throws up all sorts of strange contests and the Ghanaians seem to be involved in most of the better examples here in South Africa.

Next week the Boateng brothers might well find themselves facing each other at Soccer City when the Germans take on the Africans. Yesterday, in Pretoria, their Serb manager found himself going to head to head with one of his countrymen, for the early honours in Group D.

Considerably more bizarre, though, was the fact that the match provided a chance for the second and third choice goalkeepers at Wigan Athletic to vie for bragging rights on a loftier stage than the Premier League outfit’s Standish Lower training ground.

Serbia’s Vladimir Stojkovic is supposed to need a good World Cup in order to earn a permanent deal from Roberto Martinez after a patchy six-month loan spell. On the strength of what we saw here, though, Richard Kingson would just about get the nod with the Ghanaian helping his side to a narrow victory with a couple of decent saves over the 90 minutes while, critically, his club-mate guessed wrong for the decisive penalty seven minutes from time and twice had his blushes spared by his woodwork.

There wasn’t a huge amount between the two sides but, contrary to the claims of both Serb managers afterwards, Ghana did edge the contest to secure a first African win at this tournament and spark a lively party inside the Loftus Versfeld stadium where their supporters were utterly dominant in terms of numbers, colour and noise.

The Serbs, to be fair, certainly looked to have come a long way since 2006 where they proved to be the first round punch-bags and they unveiled a bag of tricks when it came to set-pieces over the course of the first half. For long stretches, though, they relied far too heavily on hoofing the ball from deep or wide positions in the general direction of their gigantic (6’8”) striker, Nikola Zigic.

Sadly for them this really wasn’t to be the 29-year-old’s day while his strike partner, Marko Pantelic also looked out of sorts, most memorably when he totally fluffed his first touch after being sent clear inside the box by a neatly worked early free kick.

That left two defenders and a midfielder to come up with the European side’s three best chances of the game, all of them after Aleksander Lukovic had been dismissed for two bookable offences.

Of the three, Milos Krasic was the only one to draw a stop from Kingson but a fine one it was with the winger letting loose from 15 yards after the ball had been worked in well from the left hand side only to see the goalkeeper react very quickly, even if he was fortunate that the Serb had not done better than hit it powerfully above his head.

Branislav Ivanovic and Nemanja Vidic then stepped up to try to nick the lead for their side, the Chelsea right back shooting from long range after a good run, the Manchester United man meeting a corner from the right with a powerful header, but both saw their efforts fly just over.

It was remarkably open stuff by this stage and the Ghanaians were certainly not shy about grabbing a winner themselves. Still, they were more than a little lucky when Zdravko Kuzmanovic inexplicably stuck an arm up and got a touch to an overhit cross from the left.

“I went for the ball with my head but I put my hand up too,” he said afterwards. “Then the ball hit off my hand. It was a big mistake of mine. I can’t do that.

“For me, it’s a terrible situation,” continued the distraught Stuttgart midfielder. “I sat alone in the dressing room. I was the one who cost the team. I didn’t want to speak to anyone. I have to come to terms with the situation on my own. I hope to play against Germany where only a win will do.”

For a win to make any difference, in fact, the Serbs will almost certainly have to take a least a draw from the game against Australia later this week and to do that they will most likely have to tighten up a little more at that back.

Lone Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan caused them plenty of problems here yesterday, twice hitting the post – firstly with a fine header under pressure, then an even better long range shot – and comfortably earned his Man of the Match award.

“Serbia played well today and Ghana were perhaps a little lucky to get the goal,” insisted coach Milovan Rajevac afterwards, however. “I still hope Serbia can go on to take six points from their remaining group matches and qualify. It is a very good team and I believe that Serbia can be a major force.”

Rajevac, by the way, is the Serb who manages Ghana.