Black Stars 2-0 2nd ranked Czech Republic
Go the Black Stars!!! An incredible display of midfield strength and fast turnovers saw the deserving Ghanaians convincingly put down an impressive Czech Republic.
In their first match against Italy, Appiah and Essien copped a great deal of criticism for playing selfishly and not attempting to gel the team together, which as the central midfielders is largely their responsibility. I actually felt they didnt do too badly against a superior team. But against the Czechs, the midfield duo was awesome. Their distribution involved all the players in their team, forwards, wing-backs and other midfielders. All fourteen players were in the game for the Black Stars, whereas for the Czechs only Nedved, Poborsky, Rosicky and Plasil really made any sort of impact. Defensively, the Ghanaians worked as a unit to deny the Czechs opportunities to shoot at goal. Apart from Poborsky's effort when Nedved released him into the box in the first half, and two brilliantly parried headers in the last 10 minutes, the Czechs did not get a decent sight at goal. And the most impressive part of Ghana's performance was their speed at taking advantage of turnovers. Every time the Czechs lost the ball in attack, the Ghanaians streamed up the field giving the ball carrier a multitude of options. This was a feature of the Czech game against USA, but they were clearly outdone in this match. The accuracy of the passing surprised me; it was certainly not European quality, but it was a measured and well-thought out display of ball movement from Ghana.
For twenty years or so, Ghanaian youth teams have impressed at junior tournaments. Pele commented that there would be an African world cup champion by the year 2000, primarily based on Ghana's youth teams. That prediction was wrong, but the basis for it was strong. Finally, Ghana have a result that befits their status as one of the strongest youth teams in the world. A win against USA would secure Ghana a place in the second round, only the third African should to achieve this feat.
There is also a downside to this historic win, unfortunately. Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari, the goalscorers will miss the next match after collecting two yellow cards. The Ghanaians indiscipline after securing victory was shocking. They slid in thoughtlessly, out of joy not malice, but nonetheless left the referee with no option but to brandish the yellow. The second negative was their inability to put a team away. The Argentines demonstrated how, when you have an opponent down, you grind them into the dirt with all your might. The Black Stars failed miserably in this respect when they missed a host of well created chances in the last half-hour. Petr Cech's goalkeeping display was worthy of respect and awe, but that does not account for the Africans' wastefulness. Against USA, missing their top striker, I wonder where their goals will come from.
3 comments:
I'm still grinning over this match! what an amazing performance from the Ghanians! They really didn't give the Czechs much room at all and had awesome speed and passing. You're right that they were badly disciplined and they missed so many chances it was frustrating - I don't think it was just Cech's goalkeeping (excellent though it was) was but the wastage that really showed the cracks in the strategy. But all in all a shock but fanatastic performance and I'm relieved I didn't got and put money on the Czechs ;-)
well, there werent cracks in the strategy. the strategy worked perfectly. it was individual finishing technique that was deficient. unfortunately, that problem will not fix itself in a few days time. it takes years of training at junior level. thats why the europeans and south americans enjoy a huge advantage over the rest of the world.
yes, the finishing was the problem and also the discipline.
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