Ghana 1 –1 Australia: Player ratings + video match highlights + POLL

Ghana 1-1 Australia
Stadium: Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg, South Africa
Attendance: 34,812
Match Time: 14:00 GMT, June 19, 2010


Panstil sustained a horrible injury at the end. Getty Images

Stats:
22 shots on goal
6 corners
50% possession

Two points dropped, one point gained. That's what it was.

Ghana lost a chance to potentially get out of Group D. No matter what anyone says, we should have won. Ten men in the first half for your opponent means that you go for the kill, not sit and be composed. That said, a draw is better than a loss and we go into the Germany tie with another draw or win on our minds...

Now that you've seen Ghana's two games, let's ask again:



See full match report here. Ratings and video highlights below:


Ghana 1-1 Australia - Highlights

Simão | MySpace Video

Ratings

Richard Kingson – 6 - Started the game by making some errors and capping it with being ‘Jabulanied’. Made some crucial saves in the final parts of the second half, though. Admittedly, Ghana’d have gone down had Kingson not covered for poor defense.

John Pantsil – 6 – Like in the first game with Serbia, this is not the right-full back we know. Doesn’t surge forward with dangerous plays these days and allowed the Aussies to use his side in the second half. Maybe Inkoom will be used against Germany, with the unfortunate injury he sustained at the end.

Jonathan Mensah – 6 – Being thrown at the lions in the middle of the World Cup is no joke and for all his obvious inexpererience, handled himself well. Don’t forget this is his third cap for the senior side but Ghana clearly need Mensah and/or Vorsah back quickly. Did well to give Ghana the penalty, though.

Hans Adu-Sarpei – 6 – When Ghana had the man advantage, Sarpei was expected to use his side as an attacking option, but didn’t. Defensively made few, if any, mistakes but was tactically out of touch with the rest of the game.
Anthony Annan – 6.5 – Holding the midfield seems to come natuarllay, but he takes the blame for the foul and subsequent goal scored by the Aussies. Apart from that and the (harsh) yellow, he was solid.

Lee Addy – 5 – Disappointing, for someone who went the whole nine yards with Ghana at the Nations Cup, his touch at centre-back wasn’t assured. Needs to be calm and his yellow card was totally unnecessary.

Kevin-Prince Boateng – 6 – was not impressive on the whole. Yes, had some deft touches but couldn’t keep the pressure on the Aussies as he was expected to be the driving force once they went a man down. Substitution in second half was spot on.

Prince Tagoe – 5 – Woeful. His replacement did not come soon enough. Shooting instead of passing, unable to run at the ’Roos, could not play his role on the right well. Where is the old Prince Tagoe?

Kwadwo Asamoah – 7 – The creative hub of Ghana’s play, he was not allowed to do much damage. Also started trying long shots even when he had to pass. However, he set the pace of the game till he went off, although by his standards, did not sparkle. Wasted a fair few freekicks, too.

Andre Ayew – 7 – Hard to find a player better than him in the last two games. Tireless, was the main architect of Ghana’s penalty. Interplay with Asamoah was good but got tired in the middle of the second half. Definitely Ghana’s brightest spot so far.

Asamoah Gyan – 7 – converting only penalties may not be enough for strikers, but he’s getting Ghana precious points. Harassing the Aussies from start till finish but Gyan needs to improve his final touch and scoring. Ghana needs goals from open play, not just gifted penalties.

Subs

Quincy Owusu Abeyie – 5 – Stepovers were nice - and useful - this time! Did not have a lot of time to impose himself but definitely played better than Tagoe. Still, his output does not equal his efforts.

Sulley Muntari – n/a – Was on for just 12 minutes. Provided two good passes that could have caused damage. That aside, time was too short to make an impact.

Mathew Amoah – n/a – Even shorter time to do any damage, makes you wonder why he was brought on at the time.

Coach Milovan Rajevac – 7 – He’s got Ghana 4 points, but you feel he could have done better with tactics especially when Kewell was shown the red. Should have piled on the pressure, not sit back and hope. Changes were a bit too late, just like in the Serbia game. That said, he may yet get the Stars into the second round.

Your own ratings are, as always, welcome.

Or follow me personally @garyalsmith

Michael Essien's injury: is he irreplaceable?

Ghana’s radio and TV waves are on fire with the news that Michael Essien will not play in South Africa.

That the news is a telling blow is a given. The question is this: how would it affect our play?

Saw it coming
Many comments in the info-sphere in the past few hours show that a great many people were mentally prepared of this, given Michael’s own recent comments. In April, he told the Chelsea website that:

“If I make it for the World Cup then great – if not I have my whole career ahead of me. The last thing I want is to rush back and cause more problems down the line.”

A sound argument, but when he said that, many started feeling that the guy knew he wasn’t in good shape. Essien, as we know him, is a combative guy who does not go down unless he really is hurt. This is such a case.

The debate has been mostly about how unfortunate the whole thing is and crucially, how this would affect Ghana. Would we look back and say Essien’s absence cost us dearly?

Before we go on, take this quick poll:



So who replaces him?
Who in the Ghanaian team can bring what Essien brings to the side? In my opinion, nobody. His box-to-box effectiveness and his careful, accurate, passing as well as his multi-positional play and penchant to move forward and be an auxiliary striker are…well….priceless. I’m sure you agree.

Now, let’s look at the options.

Kwadwo Asamoah
I think the 21-year old Udinese dynamo is Essien-lite, but that’s all he is, Essien-lite. Yes, his passing ability is arguably better than Michael’s but he remains a very attacking minded midfielder. I’m yet to see anyone play Kwadwo as a utility player. That said, I feel he is the nearest to an Essien replacement in the Ghana setup.

Derek Boateng
Talented? Yes. Versatile? Yes. Essien’s kind of versatile? Nope. Derek is a good player whose form this past season with Getafe has been blistering, but he is miles away from being Michael. Derek is a good distributor of the ball and like Essien, can hold on to play if need be. But when it comes to strength and bull-like play, you have the wrong guy.

Bernard Yao Kumordzi
Think Nwankwo Kanu of Nigeria of Patrick Vieira of France. Perfect clone. A midfielder based in Greece with Panionios. The 25-year-old has also represented Norrkoping in Sweden and Egaleo in Greece having started his career in Ghana.

His tall and languid (not tall and lazy as some say) nature endears him to some brand of coaches, but he cannot replace Essien. Simple as that. A littel more about him: Bernard made his international debut for the Black Stars against Brazil in March 2007 and scored his first goal against Iran soon afterwards.

So what do we do?
Essien’s exclusion is now known, but we do not know if he may be taken in a Beckham-esque capacity to motivate the team. That would be a waste of space, because Essien is a very shy man, in terms of telling colleagues what to do and dictating play. He is not the Appiah kinda leader, sorry.

If Essien is dropped altogether, then it means that an extra seat on the plane needs to be filled. The bottom line is this we have to move on. And the coach knows it.

“There are other young and hungry players who will be equally passionate to play.”

The next few days would be very interesting. Who would/should Milovan put in Essien’s stead and how would it affect the team? Or are we even overblowing the issue?

Let’s hear you, while you vote as well.

Seen the poll?

There's a new poll on here for those into the Ghanaian Premier league...its on the right...just a few scrolls down.