Gyan’s rasping spot-kick handed out the ultimate punishment for Zdravko Kuzmanovic’s needless handball in the box after Serbia had lost Aleksandar Lukovic to two bookings.
And the noise which met Ghana’s victory, the first by an African country at this year’s World Cup, by a partisan African crowd was truly deafening.
Ghana’s victory puts them in pole position to emulate their performance in 2006 and qualify for the knock-out rounds in a tough group including Germany and Australia.
Chances were few and far between in a poor first half and every time either side played a pass with either pace or distance, the receiver was taking so long to bring the ball under control that the move lost its momentum.
What few chances there were largely came from dead ball situations. Gyan fired a 25 yard free-kick over the bar on four minutes while Serbia’s Aleksandar Kolarov also curled a free-kick just over.
It was Serbia who should have broken the deadlock as substitute Danko Lazovic beat Pantsil and pulled the ball back for Milos Krasic but his left-foot effort was straight at goalkeeper Richard Kingson who palmed the ball over the bar.
Things looked gloomy but Kuzmanovic’s flailing arm connected with a deep cross into the box and Gyan thrashed the ball home to send the stands wild.
And the Rennes striker was even denied a second by the post in injury time as he curled the ball around goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic.
Ghana celebrated at the final whistle as if they had won the World Cup, dancing on the pitch as some players even partook in a lap of honour.
Error gives Slovenia first World Cup win
Captain Robert Koren snatched the soft late goal that gave Slovenia a 1-0 victory over 10-man Algeria and top place in Group C of the World Cup.
Goal-keeper Faouzi Chaouchi should have saved a curling shot from outside the penalty area on 79 minutes, but let it slip into the corner of the net soon after striker Abdelkader Ghezzal was sent off.
It was the first World Cup win for Slovenia after three losses in their only previous appearance eight years ago and will offer hope ahead of tougher assignments against the US and England.
Slovenia coach Matjaz Kek said that winning their first match would be celebrated accordingly.
“This is the first victory for Slovenia in the World Cup. We suffered in the closing minutes on the bench,” said Kek, who failed to win in his first five matches in charge before guiding them to the finals. “That is not going to change our lives, but we will celebrate it in our fashion.”
Koren, who was named man of the match, admitted his goal had been lucky with the semi-artificial pitch surface coming into play as well as Chaouchi following England’s Robert Green into the limelight as a blundering goal-keeper.
CONFIDENCE
Slovenia captain Robert Koren
“Even before the match, we had said that our target was to reach the second round, and this win will only boost our confidence in ourselves,” said Koren
REGRETS
Algeria coach Rabah Saadane
“There are only small details that can make the difference. My only regret is that we didn’t shoot enough, which I had asked my team to do,” said Saadane
Published in the Express Tribune, June 14th, 2010.
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