Ghana became the first African side to win in the 2010 World Cup following a late 1-0 success over 10-man Serbia at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Group D's opening game was on the whole a dour spectacle and had looked to be petering out to a goalless draw, but things spiced up in the 74th minute when Aleksandar Luković was sent off after picking up two yellow cards.
And things went from bad to worse for the Serbians nine minutes later when Zdravko Kuzmanović needlessly handled the ball in the area.
Asamoah Gyan stepped up to slam the ball home and give Ghana a crucial win, while Serbia will have to regroup for their next match.
Lineups:
Serbia: Vladimir Stojković; Branislav Ivanović, Aleksandar Luković, Nemanja Vidić, Aleksandar Kolarov; Miloš Krasić, Nenad Milijaš (Zdravko Kuzmanović, 61), Dejan Stanković, Milan Jovanović; Marko Pantelić (Neven Subotić, 76), Nikola Žigić (Danko Lazović, 70)
Ghana: Richard Kingson; John Paintsil, Isaac Vorsah, John Mensah, Hans Sarpei; Anthony Annan, Kevin-Prince Boateng (Lee Addey, 90); Prince Tagoe, Kwado Asamoah (Stephen Appiah, 72), André Ayew; Asamoah Gyan (Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, 90)
Statistics:
Also see:
Group D's opening game was on the whole a dour spectacle and had looked to be petering out to a goalless draw, but things spiced up in the 74th minute when Aleksandar Luković was sent off after picking up two yellow cards.
And things went from bad to worse for the Serbians nine minutes later when Zdravko Kuzmanović needlessly handled the ball in the area.
Asamoah Gyan stepped up to slam the ball home and give Ghana a crucial win, while Serbia will have to regroup for their next match.
Lineups:
Serbia: Vladimir Stojković; Branislav Ivanović, Aleksandar Luković, Nemanja Vidić, Aleksandar Kolarov; Miloš Krasić, Nenad Milijaš (Zdravko Kuzmanović, 61), Dejan Stanković, Milan Jovanović; Marko Pantelić (Neven Subotić, 76), Nikola Žigić (Danko Lazović, 70)
Ghana: Richard Kingson; John Paintsil, Isaac Vorsah, John Mensah, Hans Sarpei; Anthony Annan, Kevin-Prince Boateng (Lee Addey, 90); Prince Tagoe, Kwado Asamoah (Stephen Appiah, 72), André Ayew; Asamoah Gyan (Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, 90)
Statistics:
| Shots on target : | 2 | - | 1 |
| Shots off target : | 8 | - | 12 |
| Ball possession (%) : | 52 | - | 48 |
| Corner kicks : | 4 | - | 4 |
| Offsides : | 3 | - | 0 |
| Fouls : | 9 | - | 16 |
| Yellow cards : | 3 | - | 2 |
| Red cards : | 1 | - | 0 |
Please subscribe to our RSS feed to receive more updates. You can also subscribe by Email and enjoy our latest posts sent directly to your inbox.
Also see:
