Random Rants: World Cup Blog

Ghana coach predicts U.S. World Cup is soon to end.

A confident group of Ghana players pose for a team picture at Tuesday's training session. -- Photos by Chris Courtney --

By Chris Courtney
SoccerTimes

WUERZBURG, Germany (Tuesday, June 20, 2006) -- Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic sees the United States men's pursuit of the World Cup ending Thursday afternoon in Nuremberg,

Ghana and the U.S. close Group E Thursday with a key match, The U.S. must win, then hope Italy defeats the Czech Republic in the other group match that afternoon to advance to the Round of 16. Ghana, known as the Black Stars, will move to the second round with a victory and could advance with draw and possibly even with a loss.

"The USA will suffer, because we are strong and we are not afraid of anyone," Dujkovic said after yesterday's practice. "We are certainly not going out there to play in a half-hearted way," he said.

Ghana conducted is final practice at its training camp here today before heading to Nuremberg Wednesday morning.

These women are enjoying the celebration that broke out in Wuerzburg after Germany's 3-0 defeat of Ecuador was complete.

The four-time African Nations Cup champion and convincing 2-0 winner over the Czech Republic Saturday looked relaxed and confident as it took the practice field at the Kickers Wuerzburg club stadium. No players appeared to be injured and there was lots of good humor among the team. All seemed to have a look of supreme confidence as they went through warm-ups, then into a series of compact one-touch passing drills under an intermittent heavy rain.

Outside the gates, two members of the Wuerzburg Kickers youth team were not bothered that they could not practice since the Ghanans were using the field. "We hope they win the World Cup. They are a very good team." stated Alex and Gerard, a pair of 12 year-olds, which hangs out every day to watch the team practice. Indeed, Wuerzberg has opened its doors wide to the Ghana team and a local crowd has welcomed them back into town after each game, win or lose.

"We feel at home here and don't want to move out if we make the next round," Dujkovic said yesterday.

Many in the Ghana camp report they are excited about their Thursday's game, but are not sure how hard it will be to defeat the U.S. after seeing its 1-1 draw against Italy. Ghana Football Federation president Kwesi Nyantakyi remarked that to prevail, the team will "rely on (Stephan) Appiah and (Michael) Essien to carry the team on their shoulders."

These fans from Boston proudly display their colors as they prepare for the United States' key match Thursday.

Facing the Americans will "be hard, but we are prepared for it," Essien said..

Ghana's most respected club coach, Sir Cecil Jones Attoquayefio is the only coach in Africa ever to win all three continental cup trophies. He guided the Accra's Hearts Of Oak to win the Champions League, the Super Cup and African Football Confedrtation Confederations Cup, all within a period of four years. He now serves as an assistant coach and scout for the Ghana national team. He spent some time with SoccerTimes today to offer his views on Ghana's important meeting with the U.S.

Sir Cecil (as he is known) is no stranger to the Americans. "I've watched them play live and was impressed with their performance," he said. "I think their display against the Czech Republic did not represent the strength of their team, since they conceded so much space in the midfield and a few of those goals were scored really against the run of play.

One of the friendly 'Adidas Girls' at Kaiserslautern's Fritz-Walter-Stadion.

"In the U.S.-Italy game, it confirmed for me the U.S. team qualities I had seen in the past. They are very fit and like to work the ball centrally and then push the ball to its fast wingers, such as (DaMarcus) Beasley to stretch the defense and create chances. In this way, they are very similar to the Ghana team."

As for which players Ghana needs to look out for, Sir Cecil quickly pointed out that: "Beasley and (Landon) Donovan are two we need to keep in our focus. I remember them from the 1999 World Youth (Under-20) Championship and they made quite an impression. I've also noticed the strong play of (Oguchi) Onyewu and (Eddie) Pope in central defense and think they can cause us some challenges."

We also discussed the renewed growth of soccer in Ghana with its qualification for the World Cup. "We won the African Nations Cup five times over the years and had some success in youth tournaments, but could never manage to qualify for the World Cup," Attoquayefio said. "For awhile, Ghanan football went into a downward stage, but we still produced some great players such as Anthony Yeboah, Karim Bagheri and others. There have been many changes and it has produced this new generation with lots of talent. Now we have more good players the same time, such as Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien, and Sulley Muntari. I think this generation will promote Ghana football once again and bring us up to the next level."

As for Thursday's game, Sir Cecil stated, "Both teams are very equal, but I give the edge to Ghana so long as we do not underestimate the U.S. In the end, it will come down to which team has the better night, but then that is football."

The team returned to its hotel just as the spontaneous celebrations had broken out following Germany's 3-0 win over Ecuador to win Group A. As the players stepped off the bus, they could hear thousands of Wuerzburgers dancing and singing in the streets, honking their horns and waving their flags. Thursday night, the Black Stars will try to give the people back home in Ghana a reason to do the same.

Nuremberg's Frankenstadion is the site of Thursday's showdown between the U.S. and Ghana.

With so much on the line, the Group E finale should be an exciting one. U.S. manager Bruce Arena's charges will need to dig deep and go full tilt up for 90 minutes if they hope to beat a talented (and hungry) Ghana. They'll also need to find a way to score, since I think it will take at least two goals to beat the Black Stars. That will be two more tallies than the Americans have managed in their first two matches without the benefit of an opponent's mis-kick.

Chris Courtney is SoccerTimes European correspondent and lives in Brussels. He is in Germany covering the World Cup.