World Cup 2010: Germany vs. Ghana - Half Time Report
Ghana headed into the match against Germany as Africa's best hope of having representation in the second round of the world cup. The Germans, on the other hand, are one of the favourties to win the tournament.
Germany started this match with a change forced through suspension. Klose picked up a red card in the last game against the Serbs and sits this one out. Ghana are pretty much at full strength, except for Michael Essein, who misses the whole tournament altogether.
An interesting fact about this game is that this is the first time two brothers have playing against each other in a World Cup. Jerome was playing for the Germans, whereas his younger brother, Kevin Prince, started for Ghana. Germany makes the brighter start of the two teams and in the first ten minutes they have over sixty percent possession. Ghana only needed a point to go through to the next round and the way they played in the first half showed that they were more than happy to just get a point from this game. Their strategy revolved around trying to catch the Germans on the break, but this tournament has showed that such a strategy can be very risky.
Gyan got the best chance of the game in the opening stages, as a Ghanian player ran down the touching and passed to him for what should have been an easy finish but Schweinsteiger reacted quickly to the opening and managed to block the shot. In the 25th minute a mistake by Mertesacker almost allowed Ghana to score but the Ghanian forward, Ayew took too long to take his shot and in the end he did not manage to get a proper strike, so the attack fizzled out.
In the 28th minute, only a last ditch interception from the German captain, Philip Lahm, stopped the Ghanians from taking the lead after the German defense was ripped open. Ghana's plan of letting the Germans attack and then hitting them on the couter has worked in this half but they did not manage to get the all important goal.
It stayed 0-0 at half time with both teams getting a number of half chances, but with Ghana having the better chances of the game. Both sides recieved one booking each, Muller being booked for the Germans whereas Ayew was the only Ghanian to be booked by the referee. If the score stays as it is, Germany and Ghana will both qualify for the next round, with Ghana going through as group winner. Who would have thought that when the draw was made?
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