G'day tribe. I'm going to play around with a few World Cup scenarios this week and today I'll be exploring whether Ghana could have won the World Cup if they beat Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals.
Ghana's World Cup journey began when they were drawn into the second round of African World Cup qualification for the 2010 World Cup. In the second round they were rather lucky to progress as both Gabon and Libya finished on equal points in their group, Libya missing out between the three only on goal difference.
In the third and final round of qualifying, Ghana would finish ahead of Benin and Mali to become one of the six African representatives in the 2010 World Cup alongside Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Ivory Coast and hosts South Africa.
Ghana were drawn into the "group of death" alongside Germany, Australia and Serbia. A young Asamoah Gyan would lead the Black Stars attack with stars Stephen Appiah and Sulley Muntari in tow. They also had Premier League experience with John Paintsil, John Mensah and Kevin-Prince Boateng. Unfortunately Ghana would have to do it all without superstar Michael Essien as he was ruled out of the World Cup due to injury.
Coached by Serbian Milovan Rajevac, he helped guide Ghana to a win over his fellow countrymen 1-0 thanks for a Asamoah Gyan penalty. Gyan scored another penalty in their next game against Australia, enough for a draw but Ghana would have wanted more considering Harry Kewell was sent off as a result of the resulting penalty they scored from.
A 1-0 loss to Germany in their final group game was enough to qualify for the knockout rounds on goal difference over Australia. Ghana would draw the United States in the round-of-16.
It was the first World Cup in Africa and the expectations were high for the continent. Ghana were the last remaining African team heading into their round-of-16 clash and they would stun the United States in a 2-1 win in extra time following a 93rd minute goal. They became the furthest to progress for an African team at a World Cup alongside Cameroon at World Cup 1990 and Senegal at 2002.
The stage was set for Ghana to become the first team to ever qualify for the semi-finals from Africa.
Ghana became a surprise round-of-16 winner and entered the quarter finals with the hopes of Africa on their shoulders.
Source: Photo by Benjamin Mussler shared under Creative Commons (CC) license.
The quarter-final would create one of the most controversial games in World Cup history. With the scores locked at 1-1 Luis Suarez deliberately handballed a certain goal on the line that would have put Ghana ahead.
That's OK because Asamoah Gyan would take the resulting penalty into injury time of extra time. The goal would have sent Ghana to the semi-finals but in sensational fashion, take a look at what happened ...
Gyan hit the crossbar and the game went to penalties. Asamoah Gyan would convert his penalty but misses by John Mensah and Dominic Adiyiah meant that Uruguay would progress to the semi-finals in excruciating fashion for Ghanaian fans.
Let's imagine for a second that Gyan converted his penalty and Ghana progressed to the semi-finals. Could they have won it all? Imagine if they had Michael Essien too.
If Gyan converted his spot kick it would have set them up against the Netherlands. It would have been a beautiful game as both Ghana and the Dutch style of play is passing the ball around and both are well disciplined sides. Ghana did lose a friendly 4-1 to the Netherlands before the World Cup but it would have allowed them the opportunity to have scouted their opponents previously as well as knowing what to expect.
Isaac Vorsah and John Mensah were certainly strong enough at the back to keep Van Persie at bay. Robbin and Sneijder's pace would be difficult to keep a track of down the flanks and would have certainly troubled John Paintsil and Hans Sarpei.
Kwadwo Asamoah and Kevin-Prince Boateng were both engines and as good as Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Mark van Bommel were, I think the youth, flair and energy of Asamoah and Boateng had the ability to shock the world in a semi-final game.
Sulley Muntari and Asamoah Gyan were in the forms of their career and I have no doubt they would have exploited Khalid Boulahrouz down the right flank and up front for Ghana.
Boulahrouz actually butchered a pass in the 51st minute against Uruguay in the semi-final with a lazy back pass that failed to reach Dutch keeper Maartin Stekelenburg. An open chip on goal was only thwarted by Giovani van Bronckhorst. He almost gifted Uruguay a goal and he would have been Ghana's way into the finals.
Let's now imagine that Ghana found their way into a magical final against Spain, who beat Germany 1-0 thanks to a Carles Puyol goal. The Spanish centre-back duo of Puyol and Gerard Pique at back would have been extremely difficult for the Black Stars to breakdown however.
The midfield trio of Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets and Xavi would have controlled possession taking the sting out of a flamboyant Ghanaian attack and starving them of possession. Ghana needs free flowing football and an ability to counter attack and I don't see Spain's style allowing them that.
I'm also not sure how Ghana would find a way to exploit Sergio Ramos and Joan Capdevila down the wings, it's an almost impossible task.
I think the Ghana team of 2010 could have at least won third place against Germany who started a few squad players in their third-place playoff against Uruguay. Per Mertesacker and Arne Friedrich were both starting at centre-backs and Ghana would most definitely have exploited them for pace. Cacau started up front for Germany and would have been a much more manageable task than keeping Podolski or Klose off the scorers sheet.
An open and free flowing game against Netherlands could have seen a plausible World Cup semi-final shock. Realistically, I believe that Ghana could have shocked the Netherlands, but I don't see how the Black Stars could plausibly have won the 2010 World Cup as Spain would have had all the answers.
If only Gyan converted his penalty...
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Wolfgang Sport started in 2017 as a way to connect my passion for American and British sports. Today it's evolved into a blockchain sports blog pushing the boundaries into the crypto world and embracing Web3 technologies.
