Ghana are a breath of fresh air and, oh yeh, the Germans were alright I suppose!

Gyan - 20 year old goal scorer

In many ways the World Cup came alive yesterday afternoon when Ghana beat Serbia 1-0. The joy felt by the Ghana players and fans radiated around the world and made us all understand what the World Cup is about.

Uruguay and France were pretty abysmal. South Korea looked good but my goodness, Greece didn’t. Argentina showed glimpses of great quality in their victory over a slightly disappointing Nigeria and England and the USA were OK but nothing more than that. The less said about Algeria and Slovenia the better!

Cultures

When Ghana and Serbia took to the field we had a game between two different continents, two different cultures and two teams who would never play each other in the normal course of events. It was a true World Cup game.

I have tipped Serbia as an outside bet to do well in the tournament so nobody should be surprised that they lost their first game!

Attacking

Ghana played the game with an attacking mindset that saw them play fast, skilful, flowing football in a direct manner. They had wingers who ran at defenders (take note Aaron Lennon) and delivered an end product (take note Shaun Wright-Phillips).

Although Ghana only won the game after Serbia were reduced to ten man thanks to two silly fouls by the otherwise excellent Lukovic and a moment of madness from substitute Kuzmanovic that gave them a penalty, nobody could argue that they were good value for their victory.

Chance

Many people feel that Ghana represent Africa’s best chance at this tournament and having seen then deservedly beat a well organised and highly rated Serbia I haven’t seen anything to contradict that view.

Kingson made saves when he had to and skipper Mensah and the twenty-one year old monster Vorsah, were absolutely immense in front of him. Asamoah and Prince-Boateng played with class and guile and prodded and probed the Serbian defence. Man of the match Tagoe looked dangerous every time he got the ball and goal scorer Gyan worked tirelessly and fully deserved the glory of his successful penalty.

Slick

Ghana’s passing was slick and their movement was exceptional. If England have to play them in the round of sixteen I can foresee a whole heap of trouble for Capello and his men.

The Black Stars have won the African Cup of Nations four times but the last time was twenty-eight years ago. In the last tournament they did finish runners-up, only losing to a late goal from Egypt.

Age

Their World Cup record shows that this is just the second time they have qualified although it is also the second time in a row. In Germany in 2006 they made it to the round of sixteen with a team with an average age of just twenty-three.

Nobody will bet against them at least equalling that performance this time around and the team still has an average age of just twenty-five. When you see that the keeper Kingson is thirty-two and defender Sarpei is thirty-three, you realise just how young most of the side are.

After the rigid and rather one dimensional way England played against the USA and the other games that have promised much, but delivered relatively little, it was an absolute breath of fresh air to watch Ghana.

Nations

The United Nations representing Germany looked pretty good against a terrible Australian side last night, Two Poles and a Brazilian scored goals and a Turk was their man of the match in the midfield. The referee helped by making the tournament’s first really atrocious decision in sending off Tim Cahill as well.

Actually I’m just jealous. Why do Germany always seem to get it right at the big tournaments? They were excellent and the thought of playing them in the round of sixteen is even more frightening than playing Ghana.