Ghana: The Road to South Africa 2010
Boasting players such as Michael Essien and Sully Muntari alongside multiple other established club stars and it’s no real surprise that Ghana were tipped to comfortably qualify for the 2010 World Cup. After a good performance in their first ever World Cup tournament at Germany 2006 where they reached the Second round, Ghana were looking to continue their recent progress with a smooth untroubled qualification passage to South Africa 2010.
However, things were not as straight forward as they seemed following the surprise resignation of manager Claude le Roy after the country’s 3rd place finish at the 2008 African Nations tournament. Sellas Tetteh was appointed as interim manager to oversee the initial period of qualification matches in Ghana’s four team group.
Michael Essien - Ghana's energetic midfielder!
With the top two going through in a group containing relative minnows Gabon, Libya and Lesotho, Ghana were predicted to have minimum trouble in progressing to the third round. There seemed to be no cause for concern as Tetteh’s men picked up maximum points from their opening two matches with a 3-0 home win against Libya and a 3-2 away victory over Lesotho. However, the main cause for concern came at the end of the match against Lesotho as Ghana were three goals ahead before two stoppage time goals for the home side made for a nervous finish.
With Lesotho eventually becoming the group’s whipping boys with a grand total of zero points after the six games, the six matches involving Ghana, Libya and Gabon were to become crucial. In their third group match, Ghana’s form took a dramatic dip with a 2-0 defeat away to Gabon. The crucial reverse fixture saw Ghana replicate the scoreline but in their favour by beating Gabon 2-0 at home. Soon after, Serbian manager Milovan Rajevac was appointed as permenant Ghana manager with the seemingly simple task of guiding Ghana to the World Cup.
Nevertheless, their qualification was put into doubt with a disappointing 1-0 defeat away to Libya. With one match remaining, Libya sat top with 12 points whilst Ghana and Gabon were joint second with 9 points each. Fortunately, Ghana’s last fixture in the group was a home encounter with bottom nation Lesotho. Rajevac’s side comfortably won 3-0 although Gabon’s late home victory against Libya ensured that all three teams were level on 12 points. Luckily, Ghana’s goal difference was superior to their rivals ensuring they crept through to the final qualification group stage.
CAF Second Round qualification Group 5
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If Ghana’s passage from the previous stage was tricky, this one proved remarkably straight forward by comparison. With only one team progressing from a four team group also containing Benin, Sudan and a talented Mali team, Ghana had no option but to perform more consistently than in previous matches.
In truth, the team couldn’t have got off to a better start as a first minute goal from striker Prince Tagoe condemned Benin to a 1-0 defeat. An impressive 2-0 victory in Mali was followed with two further 2-0 victories in the reverse fixtures against Sudan. With Mali dropping points against Benin and Sudan, Ghana’s place at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was confirmed with two group games left to play.
After becoming the first African team to join hosts South Africa at the tournament next year, Ghana will hope for a kind group stage draw to give them the opportunity to progress deep into the knock out stages.
CAF Third round qualification Group 4 (to date)
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Team
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Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ghana |
4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | +7 | 12 |
 Mali |
4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
 Benin |
4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | ?2 | 4 |
 Sudan |
4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | ?5 | 1 |
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