Previous Encounters:
Ghana and United States had never met before the Germany 2006 World Cup Finals.
The Match:
With Czech Republic and Italy still without a goal, Ghana took the lead in Nürnberg in
the 22nd minute; as Haminu Dramani dispossessed Claudio Reyna and ran into the left side
of the penalty area to slip the ball past Kasey Keller.
Italy took the lead in the other game, just four minutes later, so if
things stayed like this Italy and Ghana would qualify.
Clinton Dempsey equalised for United States two minutes before the
break, as Czech Republic had a player sent off in the other game.
Then dramatically here in Nürnberg, Ghana were awarded a penalty in
injury time and Stephen Appiah slammed the spot-kick into the roof of the net.
Half-time: (2:1).
United States couldn't get back on level terms in the second-half and
Bruc Arena shock his head knowingly, as the five minutes of time added on started to run
out.
Ghana made sure that Africa would be represented among the top sixteen
countries in the world.
Final Score:
Ghana 2 - United States 1
Goalscorers:
1:0 Haminu Dramani (22)
1:1 Clinton Dempsey (43)
2:1 Stephen Appiah (45pen)
Teams
Ghana:
22 Richard Kingston; 5 John Mensah, 7 Illiasu Shilla, 13 Habib
Mohamed, 15 John Pantsil; 8 Michael Essien, 9 Derek Boateng,
10 Stephen Appiah, 23 Haminu Dramani; 14 Matthew Amoah, 19 Razak
Pimpong.
USA:
18 Kasey Keller; 3 Carlos Bocanegra, 6 Steve Cherundolo, 13 Jim Conrad, 22 Oguchi Onyewu;
7 Eddie Lewis, 8 Clinton Dempsey, 10 Claudio Reyna, 17 DaMarcus Beasley, 21 Landon
Donovan; 20 Brian McBride.
Substitutions:
40 Mins (USA) - 14 Ben Olsen on for 10 Claudio Reyna
46 Mins (Ghana) - 20 Otto Addo on for 9 Derek Boateng
59 Mins (Ghana) - 18 Eric Addo on for 14 Matthew Amoah
60 Mins (USA) - 9 Eddie Johnson on for 6 Steve Cherundolo
74 Mins (USA) - 15 Bobby Convey on for 7 Eddie Lewis
80 Mins (Ghana) - 12 Alex Tachie-Mensah on for 23 Haminu Dramani
5 Yellow
Cards:
5 Mins - Michael Essien (Ghana)
7 Mins - Eddie Lewis (United States)
32 Mins - Illiasu Shilla (Ghana)
81 Mins - John Mensah (Ghana)
90 mins - Stephen Appiah (Ghana)
