Ghana plan to run rings around Australia

GROUPE: GHANA v AUSTRALIA: THE LATEST instalment in the group of topsy turvy takes place in Rustenberg at 3pm today, with Australia…

GROUPE: GHANA v AUSTRALIA:THE LATEST instalment in the group of topsy turvy takes place in Rustenberg at 3pm today, with Australia facing Ghana still trying to work out whether Serbia's defeat of Germany was an encouraging result or not.

Ghana beat Serbia, after all, and could put themselves in a commanding position in Group D by winning a second successive game and going into their final match against Germany with nothing to lose. Yet if Australia feared their World Cup was over after their calamitous opening game, the Germans being brought back down to earth at least shows anything is still possible.

The main problem for the Australians is where the goals are going to come from. Tim Cahill was already looking uncomfortable as a lone front man even before his dismissal against Germany incurred a suspension, and although Harry Kewell claims he is fit and raring to go it would take a brave gambler to put money on goals arriving from that quarter.

“I’m as fit as I can be and I can play 90 minutes if I have to,” Kewell said, in a rallying cry that will probably not strike terror into a confident and enviably fit Ghana.

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“Australia must know we are going to attack and attack them,” the Ghana midfielder Dede Ayew promised.

“We are going to go all out. We will dominate them. We know they have some weaknesses, and we will take advantage. We are young and we are really going to use our pace.”

Ghana will be without defender Isaac Vorsah, while his first-choice centre back partner John Mensah is also struggling.

It means that coach Milovan Rajevac may have to field a completely different pairing in central defence, an area that was so key in helping them keep a clean sheet against Serbia.

But Rajevac is optimistic his team can cope with the Socceroos.

He said: “Vorsah has not been training over the past seven days, we will see tomorrow, but I don’t think he will be able to play.

“We will see how the situation is with Mensah, but we have other players who can replace them you know. We have enough players to come in and replace them.”

The Ghanaian boss says he has been warning his players all week about complacency.

He continued: “Over the past few days we have been preparing for that. We didn’t want players to be overly confident. They have to be well concentrated. You know everything happens on the pitch.

“By making statements we will not win, it’s only by the way we perform on the pitch. Also, you have seen how the results have gone in this World Cup, so there are no favourites.

“It’s all about playing well and getting the result — that’s the most important thing.

“The game between Germany and Serbia shows that at the World Cup there is no easy game and the situation becomes more complicated for all of us in this group.

“We did win against Serbia, but it’s now that the real job awaits us.”