Despite the failure to win the African Cup of Nations title in over 40 years, the Black Stars have made Ghana proud on a few occasions.
Since making its first appearance at the World Cup in 2006, the four-time African Champions have played against some of the best national teams in the world.
Some of these teams have won the World Cup in the past. Among the eight different countries to have won the FIFA World Cup in history, Ghana happens to have played against five.
These include Uruguay who won the first World Cup in 1930, Italy and Germany who are 4-time champions as well as England.
GhanaWeb takes a look at how the Black Stars have performed against World Cup winners in matches.
Ghana vs Italy:
Ghana’s first encounter with a World Cup-winning team was in the country’s first match at the World Cup in 2006.
The Black Stars faced Italy, the four-time World Cup champions [1934, 1938, 1982, and 2006]. The match was in the group stage of the tournament held in Germany.
The Black Stars fought valiantly, displaying good resilience. However, at the end of 90 minutes, it was the Italian giants who won the match 2-0 with Andre Pirlo and Vincenzo Iaquinta scoring the goals. Italy went ahead to win that tournament for the 4th time. The two sides have never met since then.
Ghana vs Brazil:
Ghana’s second encounter with a World Cup-winning team was the 2006 World Cup. The Black Stars faced Brazil after qualifying out of the group stages. Brazil beat Ghana 3-0 to book a quarter-final place in the tournament.
Ronaldo scored the first goal in the match before Adriano tapped in Cafu's cross and Ze Roberto ran through to wrap it up for the Brazilians.
Since then, the Black Stars have played Brazil in three friendly matches losing all three.
Ghana vs Germany:
The Black Stars faced another World Cup champion at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
However, that match proved very tough for the World Champions, Germany. In a game that swung from end-to-end, at breakneck speed at times, Ghana wasted some fine chances but defended solidly.
It took a stunning strike from Mesut Ozil in the 60th minute to score the important goal for the Germans in the game.
Four years later the two sides met at the 2014 World Cup and this time Ghana was able to hold Germany to a 2-2 stalemate with goals coming from Andre Ayew and Asamoah Gyan, the first two players to score against a World Cup winning team.
Germany went on to win that tournament with Ghana being the only team that drew with the Germans.
Ghana vs England:
The Three Lions are the only World Cup winners Ghana is yet to meet at the World Cup.
However, the two sides met in a historic clash in 2011. The Black Stars who came into the match following an impressive performance at the 2010 Mundial were a threat throughout the match.
Andy Carroll struck the first goal in the game for England but it was Asamoah Gyan's injury-time equalizer that deprived England of victory in a highly entertaining friendly against Ghana at Wembley. England won the World Cup in 1960 when the country hosted it.
Ghana vs Uruguay:
This is arguably the most heart-breaking match for most Ghanaians. The Black Stars were on the verge of sealing their first appearance at the World Cup semi-finals stages at the 2010 World Cup.
Sulley Muntari had shot Ghana into the lead with Diego Forlan equalizing with a stupendous free-kick. However, in the dying embers of the game, Ghana got a penalty after Suarez cleared a goal-bound header from the line.
Presented with the chance to seal a semi-final berth was Asamoah Gyan but the striker’s penalty kick struck the woodwork to the dismay of many. Ghana went on to lose the match with Uruguay the two-time World Champions making it to the next round.
Twelve years later, Ghana lost what should have been a revenge match against Uruguay by 2-0 at the 2022 World Cup.
Author: Joseph Adamafio
JNA/WA
The second time Ghana played Germany