Ghana at the FIFA World Cup
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FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
, sometimes called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in
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, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II. The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the ''World Cup Finals''). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final. This article is about the World Cup history of one of the leading nations in African football, Ghana. Ghana have appeared in the finals of the World Cup on four occasions, in
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,
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where they reached the quarter-finals,
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and in
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.


FIFA World Cup record

Ghana have qualified for four
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
tournaments; 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2022. In 2006 they were the only African side to advance to the
Second round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds e ...
of
2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...
and were the sixth nation in a row from Africa to progress beyond the group stages of the World Cup. Ghana had the youngest team in the FIFA World Cup 2006 with an average age of 23 years and 352 days, and were praised for their improving performance. FIFA ranked Ghana 13th out of the 32 countries who competed in the tournament. In the
2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
, Ghana progressed beyond the group stages, and reached the quarter-finals where they were eliminated by Uruguay. Ghana was defeated by Uruguay on penalties after Luis Suárez controversially handballed on the goal line deep into extra time, denying Ghana an almost certain winning goal. Had Ghana won their quarter final, they would have become the first African nation to progress to the semi-finals of the world cup. Of the 32 countries that participated in the
2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
, FIFA ranked Ghana 7th. In the
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
and
2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wo ...
, Ghana was eliminated in the group stage.


By match


Record by opponent


Participations


Germany 2006

Head coach:
Ratomir Dujković Ratomir Dujković (Serbian Cyrillic: Ратомир Дујковић, born 24 February 1946) is a Serbian football manager and a former player. Playing career Born and raised in Borovo Naselje to an ethnic Serb family, Dujković attended Ivan ...


Italy vs Ghana


Czech Republic vs Ghana

Asamoah Gyan opened the scoring with a low left footed shot to the net from the edge of the penalty area. Gyan then missed a penalty in the second half when he hit his shot against the post in the 66th minute. Sulley Muntari got the second goal for Ghana in the 82nd minute, finishing a move with a left footed shot to the roof of the net from inside the penalty area.


Ghana vs United States

Ghana opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when
Haminu Draman Haminu Draman (born 1 April 1986) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Having started his career in Ghana with Heart of Lions, Draman joined Serbian club Red Star Belgrade for the 2005–06. Havi ...
curled a low right footed shot past the goalkeeper from the left of the penalty area. The winning goal for Ghana was a penalty at the end of the first half which
Stephen Appiah Stephen Leroy Appiah ( ; born 24 December 1980) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Appiah was a member of the Ghana national team, which he has represented at the youth, Olympic, and senior levels. He capta ...
shot high right footed to the goalkeepers right.


Brazil vs Ghana Second Round Match

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South Africa 2010

Coach: Milovan Rajevac


Serbia vs Ghana

Asamoah Gyan scored only goal of the game came in the 85th minute from the penalty spot, shooting to the goalkeepers right after a handball offence by
Zdravko Kuzmanovic Zdravko () is a masculine given name of South Slavic origin derived from word "zdrav" meaning "healthy". Notable people with the name include: * Zdravko Čolić, Bosnian singer *Zdravko Ježić, Croatian water polo player *Zdravko Kovačić, Croa ...
.


Ghana vs Australia

Asamoah Gyan scored the equalizer for Ghana in the 25th minute from the penalty spot, shooting low to the goalkeepers left after a handball by
Harry Kewell Harry Kewell (born 22 September 1978) is an Australian association football coach, manager and former player. His most recent role as a club manager was at English National League side Barnet, and he is currently a first team coach at Celtic F.C ...
on the goal-line for which he was shown a straight red card.


Ghana vs Germany


United States vs Ghana

United States vs Ghana was played on 26 June 2010 at the
Royal Bafokeng Stadium The Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace is a football, rugby and athletics stadium in Phokeng near Rustenburg, South Africa. It was built and is managed by the Royal Bafokeng Nation. It was used as the home stadium for Premier Soccer League club Plati ...
in Rustenburg. The match was watched by 19 million Americans, making it the most watched association football match in American television history. The match was won by Ghana in extra time, after Asamoah Gyan broke a 1–1 deadlock. Kevin-Prince Boateng scored the opening goal of the match for Ghana in the 5th minute. The goal followed an error by
Ricardo Clark Ricardo Anthony Clark (born February 10, 1983) is an American retired soccer player who played as a midfielder. He appeared for MetroStars, San Jose Earthquakes, Houston Dynamo and Columbus Crew SC in the United States, Eintracht Frankfurt ...
, who lost the ball to Ghana in midfield. Boateng took the ball to the edge of the penalty area, beating US goalkeeper Tim Howard with a low left foot shot.
Landon Donovan Landon Timothy Donovan (born March 4, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player. Donovan is also the co-founder and vice-president of soccer operations for USL Championship side San Diego Loyal SC, and serves as strategic advisor fo ...
equalised with a penalty kick in the 62nd minute, awarded after Jonathan Mensah fouled
Clint Dempsey Clinton Drew Dempsey (; born March 9, 1983) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward and midfielder. During his career, he played in the Premier League for Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur and in Major League Soccer ...
. The US had chances to win the game thereafter, but they were unable to get past Ghana's goalkeeper
Richard Kingson Richard Kingson (born 13 June 1978) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He currently serves as a goalkeeper coach for the Ghana national football team. He is also known by his Turkish name Faruk Gürsoy and ...
. The match thus went to extra time. In the third minute, Gyan latched onto a high long ball, chesting it down and holding off two defenders before scoring the winner. After the match, Ghana's coach Milovan Rajevac hailed his side's achievement in becoming one of the "best eight teams in the world", but regretted the number of players that would miss the quarter-final against Uruguay because of injury or suspension. The president of the Soccer Federation, Sunil Gulati, lamented the team's failure to make the quarter-finals and thereby further raise the profile of the sport in the US. ----


Uruguay vs Ghana

Uruguay and Ghana met on 2 July 2010 at Soccer City, Johannesburg for a place in the semi-final against the Netherlands. It was the first time that the teams had ever played each other in a senior competitive football match. After a dramatic 120 minutes of play (including extra time) that finished 1–1, Uruguay won in a penalty shoot-out 4–2. Uruguay dominated the early periods of the match, but suffered an injury to captain Diego Lugano in the first half. Just before half-time, Ghana took the lead when Sulley Muntari was allowed time on the ball by Uruguay, and took advantage by scoring with a shot from 40 yards. After half-time, Diego Forlán pulled Uruguay level with a free kick from the left side of the field that went over the head of Ghana's goalkeeper
Richard Kingson Richard Kingson (born 13 June 1978) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He currently serves as a goalkeeper coach for the Ghana national football team. He is also known by his Turkish name Faruk Gürsoy and ...
. While both teams had chances to win, the match proceeded to extra time as the scores remained level. Late in extra time, Ghana sent a free kick into the
box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...
; Luis Suárez blocked
Stephen Appiah Stephen Leroy Appiah ( ; born 24 December 1980) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Appiah was a member of the Ghana national team, which he has represented at the youth, Olympic, and senior levels. He capta ...
's shot on the goal line. On the rebound, Dominic Adiyiah's header was heading into the goal, but Suárez blatantly blocked the shot with his hands to save what would have been the extra-time winner and he was red carded. Asamoah Gyan missed the ensuing penalty kick off the crossbar and Suárez celebrated the miss. In the shootout, Gyan converted his penalty, as did everybody else until the 4th round of penalty kicks when Adiyiah's penalty was saved by Uruguayan goalkeeper
Fernando Muslera Néstor Fernando Muslera Micol (; born 16 June 1987) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Turkish club Galatasaray, whom he captains, and the Uruguay national team. He is considered one of the finest goalkeepers ...
. Uruguay's Maxi Pereira then hit his penalty kick over the bar. Muslera saved Captain John Mensah's, and Ghana's fifth, penalty.
Sebastián Abreu Washington Sebastián Abreu Gallo (; born 17 October 1976) is a Uruguayan football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the current manager of Peruvian club Universidad César Vallejo. He is best known for his record of app ...
converted Uruguay's fifth spot kick by lightly chipping it Panenka-style to win the match. After the game, Suárez said, "I made the save of the tournament," and, referring to the infamous handball goal scored by Diego Maradona in the 1986 World Cup, claimed that "The 'Hand of God' now belongs to me." Suárez claimed he had no alternative and was acting out of instinct. Forlán agreed that Suárez saved the game, "Suárez this time, instead of scoring goals, he saved one, I think he saved the game. Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac said the play was an "injustice" and Suárez was labeled a "villain" and a "cheat". But Uruguay coach,
Óscar Tabárez Óscar Washington Tabárez Silva (; born 3 March 1947), known as ''El Maestro'' (The Teacher), is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former player. He most recently coached the Uruguay national team. After an unassuming career as a ...
, said these labels were too harsh, "Well, there was a handball in the penalty area, there was a red card and Suárez was thrown out. Saying that Ghana were cheated out of the game is too harsh. We have to go by the rules. It might have been a mistake by my player but I do not like that word ‘cheating’." Ghana was the last African team left in the tournament and if they had won, they would have been the first team from Africa to ever make the semifinals. But others viewed him as a hero who sacrificed himself in the semifinal for the unlikely chance that his team could win. A distraught Gyan conceded, "I would say Suárez is a hero now in his own country, because the ball was going in and he held it with his hand. He is a hero now." ----


Brazil 2014

Head coach: James Kwesi Appiah The final squad was announced on 1 June 2014. On 26 June 2014, midfielders Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng were sent home and indefinitely suspended from the national team for disciplinary reasons.


Ghana vs United States


Germany vs Ghana


Portugal vs Ghana


Qatar 2022


Group stage

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Record players


Top goalscorers


See also

*
African nations at the FIFA World Cup Association football is the most popular sport in nearly every African country, and thirteen members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) have competed at the sport's biggest event – the men's FIFA World Cup. The highest ranked res ...
* Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations


References


External links


Ghana at FIFA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghana at the FIFA World Cup Ghana