Match day 6 wrap of the 2014 World Cup GROUP G: Muller shows Ronaldo how's done the world cup way;.. USA exorcise Ghana demons.....

Match day 6 wrap of the 2014 World Cup GROUP G: Muller shows Ronaldo how's done the world cup way;.. USA exorcise Ghana demons.....

After three matches on match day 6 of the FIFA world cup 2014 Brazil...it is clear... Who the favorites are and who needs to back up seriously...

However one thing has never eluded this tournament...and that's SURPRISE...

There has been an element of surprise in almost every game...the most notable being Costa Rica upsetting 2 time world champions Uruguay with a 3-1 victory...

Here I review yesterday's match accompanied by some interesting stats and records about the other games...

Match 1: Germany 4-0 Portugal....Thomas Mueller (3)...Matt Hummels

Another surprise scoreline....Its normalcy for Germany to beat Portugal.... it was hugely possible especially based on their recent meetings and their head to head record... So far the Portuguese boasts just a win in 9 encounters against Germany with that sole victory coming some 14 years ago...

Germany were the bookies favorite to win the game but a 4-0 prediction was just like
the Ghana cedi being equal with the dollar overnight...

German's simple and patient passing game in the end was key to unlocking Portugal's porous defence...

The Portuguese team had names and not a team... And that was the difference at the end of the day... An "ordinary" made the headlines... A young..hungry....forceful....midfielder cum striker scored a hat-trick while an unfit world best player was reduced to a mere onlooker.... If you desire to know more about Thomas Muller and the German machine..... Enquire from Diego Armando's Argentina in 2010....

In summary..this was a not a spectacular performance for Germany but was an emphatic and vital victory....an also one moment of exhibiting "Iya Aburo" traits.. When Pepe head-butted Thomas Mueller to receive his marching orders....

Interesting facts and stats...

Thomas Mueller scored the first world cup hat-trick for Germany since Miroslav Klose in 2002 against Saudi Arabia...

Mueller's hat-trick is also the first in this world cup... (In 2010..there was only one hat-trick ...Gonzalo Higuain..Argentina)

This was the 50th hat-trick in world cup history since Bert Patenaude scored the first for the USA in 1930...

It was the 7th hat-trick for Germany, the team with the most hat-tricks at the World cup..(Argentina lies second with 4)

Thomas Müller scored his sixth, seventh and eighth career World Cup goal in his seventh appearance in the competition. Only one Germany player needed fewer WC matches to reach eight. Gerd Müller needed four and Helmut Rahn also needed seven matches to reach eight goals.

It was their first hat-trick against Portugal in a world cup...

What is so special is, this was Germany's 100 world cup match….the only nation to reach this landmark...

Germany won their seventh straight opening match of a World Cup campaign, following a 1-1 draw against Uruguay in 1986.

Portugal suffered their biggest defeat in a match at a major tournament (at World Cups and European Championships). They had never conceded more than three goals in a match at Euros or Worlds before yesterday's game.

Ghana vs USA....THE DR NEEDS TO PERFORM SURGERY ON THE BLACK STARS’ AILING WORLD CUP CAMPAIGN; AND IT MUST BE QUICK

Ghana suffered a moment of agony when we lost at the depth to a team we had beaten successively in the last two edition of the world cup....

Before last night's game...

The head to head record stood at 4 wins in 4 for Ghana..

Dating back to our first meeting in June 1983...Ghana has chalked victories over USA including both friendly games and competitive games... Here is how Ghana had fared with USA in those encounters...

Head to Head games

17 June 1983 Ghana v USA 5-0 (Presidents Cup)

15 September 1983 USA v Ghana 0-1 (Friendly Match)

22 June 2006 Ghana v USA 2-1 (FIFA World Cup)

26 June 2010 USA v Ghana 1-2 (FIFA World Cup)

After being caught off guard with that early goal by 'the Yanks'...the Black Stars gradually warmed themselves into the game and dominated from then.

Characterised by our short passing game we took the game to the Americans and it in as much as we created numerous chances we squandered almost of them...

Below I touch on what I sense didn't work well for Ghana....

Tactical lapses...On a day when Ghana could have immensely benefited from tactical ingenuinty...we were found lagging behind in that sense...we were too predictable and the onus fell unto our coach Dr. Kwasi Appiah to vary his tactics..but nothing of that sort was forthcoming...

Ghana dominated play in the entirety of the game but were always repeating the same thing again and we failed to fully utilise Kwadwo Asamoah's bursting runs and incisive runs on the left flank..

A tactical variation of our game could have helped Ghana especially with the introduction of K P Boateng.
.I expected instructions to be spelt out to him but saw nothing if that sort..

The world cup is a tournament that needs coaches who have the tactical nous and Kwasi Appiah is no exception...

Kwasi Appiah was easily outwitted by his opposite number Jurgen Klinsmann..

Klinsmann's experience was key and he showed he had fully assessed Ghana to know our strength and weakness...

That early goal was well worked out...and the winner was also the same....

Kwadwo Asamoah was Ghana's most creative player but with our right flank sending in more crosses than the left signifies how well we used him...

Hopefully let's hope ...the 'DR' has learnt his flaws in the game and will work on it...

Our pressing game too was not at its best. We allowed the opposition more liberty at keeping possession and did very little most times to dispossess them unless they on the other hand conceded possession.

We need to improve on that

Wasteful finishing...also cost Ghana dearly last night... Our shot off target outweigh that on target and our finishing left little to be desired most times

Final passes/delivery....our passes into the final third was always average... Daniel Opare mostly over-crossed the balls resulting in the ball failing to locate its intended target...

We play without width....Ghana play too narrowly.... We should spread the ball out wide ...it opens up our game....
That's what the Americans did better than us.....

Now our chances of qualifying looks very slim and unless a miraculous string of results Ghana cannot sail through Group G....

Here are a few facts..stats..and more  about Ghana's game with the USA

Clint Dempsey’s goal which was the opener for USA is now ramked the 5^th fastest world cup goal….Below are the top 6 fastest world cup goals

1. Hakan Sukur (2002): 11 seconds

29/06/2002 (Daegu, Daegu World Cup Stadium), third place play-off

South Korea 2-3 Turkey

2. Vaclav Masek (1962): 16 seconds

07/06/1962 (Vina del Mar, Estadio Sausalito), first round

Mexico 3-1 Czechoslovakia

3. Ernst Lehner (1934): 25 seconds

07/06/1934 (Naples, Stadio Ascarelli), third place play-off

Germany 3-2 Austria

4. Bryan Robson (1982): 27 seconds

16/06/1982 (Bilbao, Estadio San Mamés), first round

England 3-1 France

5. Clint Dempsey (2014): 29 seconds

16/06/2014(Natal, Arena das dunas), group stage

Ghana 1-2 USA

6. Emile Veinante (1938): 35 seconds

05/06/1938 (Colombes, Yves-du-Manoir), first round

France 3-1 Belgium

On a lighter note…someone exhibited his creative best by coming out with these….

Characteristics of Ghana vrs USA 

1. The team that wears red wins
2. Its always 2-1
3. The team that scores first wins.
4. The losers always equalize before conceding the 2nd goal
5. The team with the local coach loses