Living in Liberia it has not been easy to watch the Africa Cup of Nations. With matches at 4 PM I have been mostly at work, and quite a few places have preferred to show English Premier League. Very disappointing for the football culture in Liberia, a country that is light years from even qualifying to an African Cup of Nations.
On Friday afternoon I managed to watch my first match when I left the office early to watch Ghana versus Algeria while seeing the sun setting over the ocean at a bar/restaurant called Anglers. I was the only customer there when I rose to cheer Asamoah Gyan's late goal, that gave Ghana such an important victory. The final match against South Africa on Tuesday will be a drama!
Today the final round of matches of group A took place, and last tournament's finalists, Burkina Faso, needed to defeat Congo to continue in the tournament. But it was the Congolese who won 2-1 and are in the quarterfinals, quite surprising, by winning the group. In the other match, the home team of Equatorial Guinea came out celebrating after a 2-0 victory over Gabon, another side that more was expected from. The Guineans will be full of hope now in the quarterfinals of a tournament that they had originally been expelled from.
But a pity for Burkina Faso and Gabon; look forward to seeing them in the next tournament.
Showing posts with label Asamoah Gyan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asamoah Gyan. Show all posts
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Friday, May 16, 2014
Greatest World Cup matches: Ghana-Uruguay (2010)
The first World Cup in Africa came amid criticism whether the South African hosts were ready to host the tournament. On the pitch however, there was surely no doubt that Africa was ready: since the 1970s African football had taken enormous strides to take its place among the top world football. First Cameroun and Morocco had taken the world by storm in 1982 and 1986, and were then joined by Nigeria, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, all nations that in their World Cup appearances had performed at the highest level.
So as the tournament came to Africa for the first time ever, expectations were understandably high. But most were left disappointed: After a promising opener, the South African hosts proved to be the first host nation eliminated in the first round of a World Cup. Nigeria, Algeria and Cameroun all came last in their respective groups, while Cote d'Ivoire came third in a difficult group behind Brazil and Portugal. After the first round, only one African team was left in the tournament: the “Black Stars” from Ghana.
Ghana had until 2006 been a notable under-performer at senior level, while they had come to the forefront of youth football: World champions for U-17 in 1991 and 1995 and runners-up in the U-21 World cup in 1997, as well as a memorable bronze medal in the 1992 Olympics. The incredible pool of talent and a high level of organization had always made it only a question of time before Ghana would emerge on the stage, something that finally happened in 2006, for their first world cup, where they surprised everyone by making it to the last-16 ahead of the Czech Republic and the USA, and there losing to Brazil.
In 2006 they had been one of the youngest sides, so in 2010 they were a team with more experience that was to face Serbia, Australia and Germany in the first round. Under the Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac it was a more cynical Ghanaian side than the charming but naive side of 2006. They had started with a difficult 1-0 victory over Serbia and had then tied 1-1 with a fighting Australian side. Both goals were scored on penalty by the Rennes striker Asamoah Gyan. In their last group-match Ghana lost 1-2 to Germany, but when Australia managed to defeat Serbia, Ghana was through on goal difference.
In the last-16 Ghana faced the USA, and as in 2006 the Black Stars won 2-1, but after extra time.
As only the third African team to make it to a World Cup quarterfinal, all the hopes of the continent were now with Ghana, who were to face Uruguay. The team had been strong an efficient, but had been mired in some controversy as the Inter Milan striker, Sulley Muntari, who had been suspended from the team during qualification, had been expelled for insulting Rajevac. However, captain Stephen Appiah's plead to the coach had allowed Muntari to be pardoned by the coach.
It was proper that the double world champions of Uruguay would participate in the first World Cup in Africa; as the first hosts and champions themselves, Uruguay had also been the first country to use black players on their team, at a time when other countries were still immersed in their colonial racism and idiotic arrogance.
Although Uruguay had struggled to qualify (they qualified as the very last team after a hard-fought play-off match against Costa Rica), they arrived to the tournament with a powerful striking force in Diego Forlan, from Atletico Madrid, and Luis Suarez from Ajax Amsterdam, supplemented by players with a lot of experience in the top European leagues.
Uruguay started with a tie against France before defeating the hosts of South Africa 3-0 and Mexico 1-0 to take the first spot in their group. In the second round the South Americans played South Corea and won 2-1 on two goals by Suarez, and were now to face Africa's darlings in the quarterfinals.
The Uruguayan team started best in a match between two very skilled but also very physically strong sides. The South Americans completely dominated the first twenty minutes of the match, and the Wigan goalkeeper Richard Kingson had two good saves. But slowly Ghana fought themselves back into the match, and towards the end of the first half they were dominating when Uruguay was seriously weakened: Their experienced captain, Diego Lugano from Fenerbahce in Turkey, was injured and had to replaced by Andres Scotti. And things started to look bleaker for Uruguay when Ghana went ahead in the last seconds of the first half. The goal was scored on a long-range effort by the controversial Sulley Muntari, whose shot curled in such a way that it caught goalkeeper Fernando Muslera on the wrong foot.
But Uruguay kept their cool, and ten minutes into the second half Diego Forlan took a free kick outside the Ghanaian area, and also gave the ball a curve that caught Kingson on the wrong foot.
1-1.
The match then became a hard fought physical affair, with chances on both sides, although Luis Suarez missed a couple of great chances against Kingson. 1-1 in ordinary time, and the extra time was mostly characterized by tiredness, nerves and long-range attempts as the minutes slowly moved forward, until the last minute of extra time: Ghana got a free kick on the right side outside the Uruguayan penalty area. As the last kick of the match, they sent all men forward to try to get a goal before the penalty kicks. Dominic Adiyiah, AC Milan player who had come in for Muntari, got a strong header towards an empty goal, but Luis Suarez, who was standing on the goal-line, saved it with his hands to avoid Ghana taking the victory.
The referee was not in doubt: direct red card for Luis Suarez and penalty kick for Ghana, which would put them in the semifinal of the World Cup. Asamoah Gyan, who had scored three goals in the tournament, two of them on penalty, completely overshot his kick.
The villain, Luis Suarez, celebrated the miss from the sidelines.
Most people had the feeling that Uruguay, after looking into the deep hole of elimination, had all the advantages as the penalty kicks started. After John Mensah and Adiyiah missed for Ghana, Sebastian Abreu elegantly scored the goal that put Uruguay in the semifinal of the World Cup.
Until now, no African team has come closer to a World Cup semifinal. And it is scant consolation that Uruguay, without Suarez, lost the semifinal 2-3 to the Netherlands, and went on to lose the bronze match as well, 2-3 to Germany.
Ghana-Uruguay 1-1 (after extra time)
Goals:
Penalty kicks:
So as the tournament came to Africa for the first time ever, expectations were understandably high. But most were left disappointed: After a promising opener, the South African hosts proved to be the first host nation eliminated in the first round of a World Cup. Nigeria, Algeria and Cameroun all came last in their respective groups, while Cote d'Ivoire came third in a difficult group behind Brazil and Portugal. After the first round, only one African team was left in the tournament: the “Black Stars” from Ghana.
Ghana had until 2006 been a notable under-performer at senior level, while they had come to the forefront of youth football: World champions for U-17 in 1991 and 1995 and runners-up in the U-21 World cup in 1997, as well as a memorable bronze medal in the 1992 Olympics. The incredible pool of talent and a high level of organization had always made it only a question of time before Ghana would emerge on the stage, something that finally happened in 2006, for their first world cup, where they surprised everyone by making it to the last-16 ahead of the Czech Republic and the USA, and there losing to Brazil.
In 2006 they had been one of the youngest sides, so in 2010 they were a team with more experience that was to face Serbia, Australia and Germany in the first round. Under the Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac it was a more cynical Ghanaian side than the charming but naive side of 2006. They had started with a difficult 1-0 victory over Serbia and had then tied 1-1 with a fighting Australian side. Both goals were scored on penalty by the Rennes striker Asamoah Gyan. In their last group-match Ghana lost 1-2 to Germany, but when Australia managed to defeat Serbia, Ghana was through on goal difference.
In the last-16 Ghana faced the USA, and as in 2006 the Black Stars won 2-1, but after extra time.
As only the third African team to make it to a World Cup quarterfinal, all the hopes of the continent were now with Ghana, who were to face Uruguay. The team had been strong an efficient, but had been mired in some controversy as the Inter Milan striker, Sulley Muntari, who had been suspended from the team during qualification, had been expelled for insulting Rajevac. However, captain Stephen Appiah's plead to the coach had allowed Muntari to be pardoned by the coach.
It was proper that the double world champions of Uruguay would participate in the first World Cup in Africa; as the first hosts and champions themselves, Uruguay had also been the first country to use black players on their team, at a time when other countries were still immersed in their colonial racism and idiotic arrogance.
Although Uruguay had struggled to qualify (they qualified as the very last team after a hard-fought play-off match against Costa Rica), they arrived to the tournament with a powerful striking force in Diego Forlan, from Atletico Madrid, and Luis Suarez from Ajax Amsterdam, supplemented by players with a lot of experience in the top European leagues.
Uruguay started with a tie against France before defeating the hosts of South Africa 3-0 and Mexico 1-0 to take the first spot in their group. In the second round the South Americans played South Corea and won 2-1 on two goals by Suarez, and were now to face Africa's darlings in the quarterfinals.
The Uruguayan team started best in a match between two very skilled but also very physically strong sides. The South Americans completely dominated the first twenty minutes of the match, and the Wigan goalkeeper Richard Kingson had two good saves. But slowly Ghana fought themselves back into the match, and towards the end of the first half they were dominating when Uruguay was seriously weakened: Their experienced captain, Diego Lugano from Fenerbahce in Turkey, was injured and had to replaced by Andres Scotti. And things started to look bleaker for Uruguay when Ghana went ahead in the last seconds of the first half. The goal was scored on a long-range effort by the controversial Sulley Muntari, whose shot curled in such a way that it caught goalkeeper Fernando Muslera on the wrong foot.
But Uruguay kept their cool, and ten minutes into the second half Diego Forlan took a free kick outside the Ghanaian area, and also gave the ball a curve that caught Kingson on the wrong foot.
1-1.
The match then became a hard fought physical affair, with chances on both sides, although Luis Suarez missed a couple of great chances against Kingson. 1-1 in ordinary time, and the extra time was mostly characterized by tiredness, nerves and long-range attempts as the minutes slowly moved forward, until the last minute of extra time: Ghana got a free kick on the right side outside the Uruguayan penalty area. As the last kick of the match, they sent all men forward to try to get a goal before the penalty kicks. Dominic Adiyiah, AC Milan player who had come in for Muntari, got a strong header towards an empty goal, but Luis Suarez, who was standing on the goal-line, saved it with his hands to avoid Ghana taking the victory.
The referee was not in doubt: direct red card for Luis Suarez and penalty kick for Ghana, which would put them in the semifinal of the World Cup. Asamoah Gyan, who had scored three goals in the tournament, two of them on penalty, completely overshot his kick.
The villain, Luis Suarez, celebrated the miss from the sidelines.
Most people had the feeling that Uruguay, after looking into the deep hole of elimination, had all the advantages as the penalty kicks started. After John Mensah and Adiyiah missed for Ghana, Sebastian Abreu elegantly scored the goal that put Uruguay in the semifinal of the World Cup.
Until now, no African team has come closer to a World Cup semifinal. And it is scant consolation that Uruguay, without Suarez, lost the semifinal 2-3 to the Netherlands, and went on to lose the bronze match as well, 2-3 to Germany.
2nd July 2010
Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg
Attendance: 84,000
Referee: Oligario Benquerenca
(Portugal)
Teams:
Teams:
Uruguay: Muslera, Maxi
Pereira, Diego Lugano (Scotti), Victorino, Fucile, Alvaro Fernandez
(Lodeiro), Perez, Arevalo Rios, Cavani (Abreu), Luis Suarez (RC,
120), Diego Forlan.
Ghana: Kingson, Pantsil,
Vorsah, John Mensah, Sarpei, Annan, Inkoom (Steven Appiah), Asamoah,
Kevin-Prince Boateng, Suley Muntari (Dominic Adiyiah), Asamoah Gyan
Ghana-Uruguay 1-1 (after extra time)
Goals:
1-0 Sulley Muntari (45)
1-1 Diego Forlan (55)
Penalty kicks:
Ghana-Uruguay 2-4
0-1 Forlan
1-1 Gyan
1-2 Victorino
2-2 Appiah
2-3 Scotti
Mensah missed for Ghana
Pereira missed for Uruguay
Adiyiah missed for Ghana
2-4 Abreu
Friday, March 01, 2013
Top 10 heartbreaking penalty misses
The recent Africa Cup of Nations semifinal between Ghana and Burkina Faso, where the latter won on penalty kicks, made me think of the most heartbreaking penalty kicks I could think of in my life. Here are my top ten:
- 10) Chris Waddle, England against West Germany, semifinal of the 1990 World Cup: The only interesting thing in this World Cup was the penalty kicks, and I would have loved to see England against Argentina in what would have been a historic final.
- 9) Joaquin, Spain-South Corea, quarterfinal of the World Cup 2002: A historic triumph for Asian football, but a great defeat by the young Joaquin who never seemed really to recover from this.
- 8) Mauricio Pellegrino, Valencia-Bayern Munich, Champions League final 2001: Valencia will never come so close to a CL title. Pellegrino missed the last kick to give the Germans their title and me a really bad day.
- 7) Pierre Wome, Cameroon-Egypt 2006 World Cup qualifier. The score was 1-1 in Yaounde in the last match of the group. Cameroon had to win to make it to the World Cup. In the 90th minute Cameroon got a penalty kick. Nobody wanted to kick, so Wome stepped up, and shot wide. Cameroon did not make the World Cup and Wome was frozen out of the Cameroon national team.
- 6) Maxime Bossis, France-West Germany, semifinal of the 1982 World Cup: France surely had one of the best teams in the world, and after a spectacular semifinal against West Germany, it went into extra time and penalties, where Maxime Bossis missed the last shot for France, and Horst Hrubesch could take the winning kick for the Germans.
- 5) John Terry, Chelsea-Manchester United, Champions League final, 2008: It was Chelsea's first Champions League final against the rivals of Manchester United, and the intense and dramatic match ended 0-0. In the penalty kicks captain John Terry could take the shot that would give them a victory, but he slipped and missed, and Manchester went on to win as the kicks continued.
- 4) Zico, Brazil-France, World Cup quarterfinal 1986: One of the best players in history in one of the most memorable teams, in what many consider the best World Cup match ever. Zico missed a penalty at the score 1-1 in the second half, and Brazil went on to lose in penalty kicks.
- 3) Roberto Baggio, Italy-Brazil 1994 World Cup final: The star of Italy's team in the 1994 World Cup missed the last kick that ended up giving Brazil the World Cup in the first World Cup final that was ever decided on penalty kicks.
- 2) Miroslav Djukic, Deportivo la Coruna against Valencia, 1994: Little Deportivo La Coruna had been leading the Spanish league most of the season until the last match, where a victory at home against Valencia would give them the title ahead of mighty FC Barcelona. At the score 0-0, La Coruna was awarded a penalty in the last minute of the match. Bebeto refused to take it. Djukic took it, and missed, and the title went to Barcelona.
- 1) Asamoah Gyan, Ghana-Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup quarterfinal: Ghana was the only third African side to make it to a World Cup quarterfinal. In the last minute of extra time, Uruguay striker Luis Suarez saved the ball with his hand to avoid certain defeat. He was immediately shown a red card and Asamoah Gyan was set to make the shot that would make Ghana the first African side in a World Cup semifinal. But he made a high shot that just touched the crossbar, and in the following penalty kicks Ghana lost.
There are surely more that I either do not remember or know about, so I would love to hear some of your opinions!
Saturday, July 03, 2010
This is what a World Cup is about
The play-off matches are the best thing about a World Cup, as it is when all the legendary dramas that capture nations and the world take place. Such a drama took place yesterday between Ghana and Uruguay: Ghana was as close as possible to be the first African team in a World Cup semifinal, while Uruguay played to reach the glory of former times. Both teams were organised, careful, but the match flowed well with chances for both teams.
Uruguay was seriously weakened when Diego Logano had to go out with an injury, and only a few minutes later Sulley Muntari scored a great goal for Ghana.
In the second half none other than Diego Forlán, with the marvelous kick, scored an excellent equalizer for Uruguay, and the match had to go into an exciting extra time...
This was when the drama came...
In the last second of the match Luis Suarez saved a ball with the hands on the goalline. As is usual, he got the harshest punishment, a red card (direct red card, so he will not play any more in this tournament) and a penalty kick for Ghana that undoubtfully would have put Ghana in the semifinals, but Asamoah Gyan did not take advantage of the punishment for Uruguay, and missed a horrible penalty to the delight of the Uruguayans.
South American teams are excellent at penalty kicks, and Uruguay were no exception: a great goalkeeper and cold-blooded and skilled kickers gave Uruguay the victory and a place in the semifinals for the first time in 40 years for a team that has made history before.
It was truly heartbreaking for Ghana, and it took me a bit of time to get past the drama. But truly, this kind of matches is what a football World Cup is all about, and I would rather not have been without it!
Cheers for Uruguay and Ghana!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Pounding Nigerian fufu!
I was unable to watch Ghana-Nigeria in the semifinal of the African Nations Cup, but sitting in my office in Caracas I followed the match online as Ghana pounded some Nigerian fufu!! I was delighted about Ghana's victory, wishing I was back in Ghana! As an old Ghanaian friend used to say, I was "happy like a Christmas Chicken!"The 1-0 victory on a goal by Asamoah Gyan (who after also scoring the winner against Angola is turning into the great saviour for the Black Stars) was apparently hard-fought with the Wigan goalie Richard Kingson playing a great match that brought Ghana to the final
Still, Ghana's victory is amazing and augurs well for the World Cup, since Ghana is playing without some of its usual starters: Chelsea's Michael Essien, Inter's Sulley Muntari, Bologna's Stephen Appiah, Fulham's John Paintsil and Breda's dangerous striker Matthew Amoah have all been absent for different reasons, but the strength of Ghanaian football is now shown by the many (young) players that are able to take over.
Even with substitutes Ghana is one of the best teams of Africa!
And they may prove to be the best if they are hopefully able to kick the Egyptians back to the pyramids! (Egypt destroyed Algeria 4-0 in the other semifinal, getting some bitter revenge on being eliminated from the World Cup by the Algerians).
Go Black Stars!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Ghana and Algeria in the semifinal!
There were two major surprises in the African Cup quarterfinals today.
In the first one, the home side of Angola were surprisingly eliminated by Ghana, who without their star Michael Essien managed a somewhat fortunate and hard-fought 1-0 victory on a goal by Stade Rennais' Asamoah Gyan. Ghana is set to play the winner of Zambia-Nigeria, and a match against their West African rivals Nigeria would surely be a drama!
Go Ghana!
The other quarterfinal saw an even greater surprise as Ivory Coast was eliminated by the interesting Algerians in a dramatic match: in the last minute of the match Ivory Coast went ahead 2-1 on a truly spectacular goal by Galatasaray's Kader Keita. But in the dying seconds of the match Algeria threw everything forward, and managed to equalize by the big Glasgow Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra. The match went into extra time, and Hamer Bouazza from Blackpool scored the winner for the Algerians.
Algeria are surprise qualifers for the World Cup in South Africa, and are not considered to have a chance against England, the USA and Slovenia. But surely these teams should be watching the Algerians!
Algeria will surely have a difficult semifinal as they will face the winner of Egypt-Cameroon. The Egyptians will surely want to show that they are the better team after Algeria elminiated them from the World Cup, prompting a diplomatic crisis between the two countries. However, with today's result Algeria have proven that they are indeed a match for any team! Look out for Algeria!
In the first one, the home side of Angola were surprisingly eliminated by Ghana, who without their star Michael Essien managed a somewhat fortunate and hard-fought 1-0 victory on a goal by Stade Rennais' Asamoah Gyan. Ghana is set to play the winner of Zambia-Nigeria, and a match against their West African rivals Nigeria would surely be a drama!
Go Ghana!
The other quarterfinal saw an even greater surprise as Ivory Coast was eliminated by the interesting Algerians in a dramatic match: in the last minute of the match Ivory Coast went ahead 2-1 on a truly spectacular goal by Galatasaray's Kader Keita. But in the dying seconds of the match Algeria threw everything forward, and managed to equalize by the big Glasgow Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra. The match went into extra time, and Hamer Bouazza from Blackpool scored the winner for the Algerians.
Algeria are surprise qualifers for the World Cup in South Africa, and are not considered to have a chance against England, the USA and Slovenia. But surely these teams should be watching the Algerians!
Algeria will surely have a difficult semifinal as they will face the winner of Egypt-Cameroon. The Egyptians will surely want to show that they are the better team after Algeria elminiated them from the World Cup, prompting a diplomatic crisis between the two countries. However, with today's result Algeria have proven that they are indeed a match for any team! Look out for Algeria!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Ghana-USA
Ghana was stunning against the disappointing Czechs. They were disciplined, combined beautifully, defended well, and created plenty of chances. But actually Ghana failed in one thing: they should have scored many more. In a World Cup, you cannot expect to have that many chances. That is what differentiates the big teams from the small teams: big teams just need one chance to score. We have already seen it this world cup with Italy and the Netherlands.
Living in Ghana, I can only be caught up in the boiling excitement the country is currently going through. People are eagerly awaiting: "who will we play in the next round?". While this is wonderful, it is no easy obstacle ahead: the USA, who also have a chance of entering the last-16 by defeating Ghana. And Ghana will be missing two crucial players: Muntari and Asamoah Gyan are both suspended. These are Ghana's only two scorers so far! With the incredible inefficiency of Ghana's attack, this is a major loss.
I hope Ghana wins. I hope to be celebrating in the streets of Accra (although I will probably not be able to leave the office...). Being objective however, I think the game will be extremely difficult for Ghana - much more than Ghanaians themselves believe! But until then, Ghana is living the magic of World Cup success!
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
The Black Stars on the way!
Ghana has started its World Cup and African Nations Cup (in January) preparations with a friendly match against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh last night. Without their stars Michael Essien and Stephen Appiah, but with a returning Roma defender Samuel Kuffour, Ghana managed to pull a 1-3 victory against the Saudi's (who will also be playing in Germany next summer). The goals were scored by Italian-based strikers: Asamoah Gyan (Modena) scored two, and one was scored by Sulley Muntari (Udinese).
I have before said Ghana will be hard to defeat next year. And this shows that preparations are well underway. Next year might indeed be Ghana's year!
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