Portugal and Ghana
played a thoroughly entertaining match that perhaps neither team
deserved to lose. So, naturally, both lost -- Portugal claimed a 2-1
victory on the day, but the result eliminates each side in Group G, with
Ghana consigned to last spot with one point and Portugal missing out on
second place thanks to goal differential, allowing the USA to progress
in the World Cup.
Cristiano Ronaldo -- and, by
extension, Portugal -- very nearly started off the match with a bang. On
the right wing, the Real Madrid star spotted Fatau Dauda off his line
(or so he'll tell us) and laced a shot over his head from an impossible
angle. Alas for Ronaldo, what would have been the goal of the tournament
didn't get quite enough dip on it to drop below the crossbar, instead
rebounding back into play for the Black Stars to clear. Perhaps that's
just as well; I don't think anyone was looking forward to the "did he
mean it?" debate after the match.
Portugal pressed the attack,
coming within inches (again!) of going ahead when Ronaldo met a João
Pereira cross with a powerful header only for Dauda to beat the effort
over the bar, and the Black Stars' defence was eventually breached in
the 30th minute through the unfortunate John Boye. João Moutinho juggled
his way through the centre of the pitch, slashed a pass wide to Miguel Veloso,
and the erstwhile left back's delivery was deflected by Boye's knee,
flicking up to the crossbar, then to the post, and then to the back of
the net for an own goal.
Ghana had been looking intermittently dangerous themselves. Asamoah Gyan
was at the heart of most of their good work, coming close a number of
times and also seeing what looked like a very reasonable penalty shout
turned down after clashing with Bruno Alves in the left channel.
But despite their attacking
intent, the Black Stars went into halftime 1-0 down. That situation
would change after the break -- Ghana came out strong and soon drew
level via Gyan. Kwadwo Asamoah got free on the left and fired in a cross
with the outside of his boot, and Gyan was on hand to steer a header
past Beto and put the game back to 1-1.
And Ghana, who now only needed a
goal to claim second spot and advance, nearly made it 2-1 minutes later
when Abdul Majeed Waris escaped his market on a corner. But instead of
finding the goal, as looked briefly destined, he steered his header
implausibly wide.
The momentum, however, was
firmly in the Black Stars' favour, and it took a phenomenal last-ditch
tackle from Pepe to prevent Waris racing onto a pass in the Portuguese
box just after the hour mark. Ronaldo tried to turn things around via an
amusing dive for a penalty, but his rolling around failed to amuse
referee Nawaf Shukralla, and Ghana immediately went back on the attack.
If not for a goalkeeping
howler, it's not at all out of the question that the Black Stars could
have gone on to win the match. But a howler is exactly what they got --
Boye popped a cross into the air, and Dauda, challenged by Silvestre
Varela, couldn't catch the ball, instead virtually throwing it at
Ronaldo's feet. And Ronaldo didn't miss.
Portugal needed to make up a
five-goal swing, and with 10 minutes left they were still down by three.
There simply wasn't enough time to score the goals they needed, and try
as they might they failed to find the goal again despite getting plenty
of chances -- including a point-blank flick by Ronaldo -- in the game's
dying moments.
by SBNation / www.FlagWigs.com
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