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Ghana takes centre
stage today as it opens its World Cup campaign against European side,
Serbia, at the Tshwane/ Pretoria stadium in South Africa.

The Black Stars are
one of the six teams carrying the hopes of the continent, believing
that it could shock the rest of the World at the first Mundial on
African soil. The team has faced injury problems with its most
influential player, Michael Essien, being the worst hit.

Regardless of the absence of Essien, coach Milovan Rajevac believes all hope is not lost for his team.

Reaching the finals
of the Nations Cup in Angola in similar circumstances has been a morale
booster for the squad as it struggles for qualification in a group that
also has Germany and Australia

History

Before now, the
only meeting between these sides was a friendly game played out 13
years ago in Seoul, which was won by the former Yugoslavia 3-1.

Serbia (previously
participating as Yugoslavia and then Serbia and Montenegro) have lost
their last four matches played at the FIFA World Cup, suffering
consecutive defeats against Netherlands in 1998 and 2006, before
slipping up against Argentina and Cote d’ Ivoire, also at Germany 2006.

Their last victory dates back to June 25, 1998, when a goal by defender Slobodan Komljenovic secured a 1-0 victory over USA.

Ghana has never drawn a match at the World Cup, having collected two wins and two defeats from their solitary outing in 2006.

Cautious approach

Both teams are
cautious of each other and no one can afford the luxury of underrating
the other. Serbian defender, Aleksander Lukovic in an interview with
FIFA.com extolled the qualities of the Ghanians: “Ghana are a quality
team and many of their players have prominent roles in their respective
clubs.

Meanwhile, Black
Stars midfielders Kwadwo Asamoah and Sulley Muntari have both appealed
for calm and assured Ghanaians that they hope to be ready for Ghana’s
opener against Serbia today, admitting that they were initially
concerned that they might not be fit to face the Europeans in the Group
opener.

However, after a
light run out when Ghana beat a select side from Durban 4-0, Asamoah
expressed optimism about his fitness battle. “I had to miss the last
training session after I took a knock. It was the wisest thing to do.”
The player had to sit out the Stars’ second training session as a
precaution after picking up a knock in training on Monday.

Ghana coach Milovan
Rajevach has revealed little about his starting line up ahead of Sunday
but it would be a major tactical switch if Asamoah does not play behind
in form striker Asamoah Gyan.

Interestingly also,
Milovan Rajevach is the second Serbian coach to lead a team against his
home nation, after Blagoje Vidinic watched his Zaire side mauled 9-0 to
Yugoslavia in 1974. He would be looking forward to prove a point with
his African side.

World Cup head-to-head

Ghana has never faced Serbia, or the former Yugoslavia, at the World Cup.

All-time head-to-head Games played: 1 Yugoslavia: 1 win, 0 losses, 0 draws Ghana: 0 wins, 1 loss, 0 draws

Goals: Yugoslavia 3, Ghana 1 Last match: Ghana faced the former Yugoslavia in Seoul, South Korea in 1997 and lost

Previous Appearances at the world Cup

Serbia: 10 Ghana: 1

Ghana takes centre
stage today as it opens its World Cup campaign against European side,
Serbia, at the Tshwane/ Pretoria stadium in South Africa.

The Black Stars are
one of the six teams carrying the hopes of the continent, believing
that it could shock the rest of the World at the first Mundial on
African soil. The team has faced injury problems with its most
influential player, Michael Essien, being the worst hit.

Regardless of the absence of Essien, coach Milovan Rajevac believes all hope is not lost for his team.

Reaching the finals
of the Nations Cup in Angola in similar circumstances has been a morale
booster for the squad as it struggles for qualification in a group that
also has Germany and Australia

History

Before now, the
only meeting between these sides was a friendly game played out 13
years ago in Seoul, which was won by the former Yugoslavia 3-1.

Serbia (previously
participating as Yugoslavia and then Serbia and Montenegro) have lost
their last four matches played at the FIFA World Cup, suffering
consecutive defeats against Netherlands in 1998 and 2006, before
slipping up against Argentina and Cote d’ Ivoire, also at Germany 2006.

Their last victory dates back to June 25, 1998, when a goal by defender Slobodan Komljenovic secured a 1-0 victory over USA.

Ghana has never drawn a match at the World Cup, having collected two wins and two defeats from their solitary outing in 2006.

Cautious approach

Both teams are
cautious of each other and no one can afford the luxury of underrating
the other. Serbian defender, Aleksander Lukovic in an interview with
FIFA.com extolled the qualities of the Ghanians: “Ghana are a quality
team and many of their players have prominent roles in their respective
clubs.

Meanwhile, Black
Stars midfielders Kwadwo Asamoah and Sulley Muntari have both appealed
for calm and assured Ghanaians that they hope to be ready for Ghana’s
opener against Serbia today, admitting that they were initially
concerned that they might not be fit to face the Europeans in the Group
opener.

However, after a
light run out when Ghana beat a select side from Durban 4-0, Asamoah
expressed optimism about his fitness battle. “I had to miss the last
training session after I took a knock. It was the wisest thing to do.”
The player had to sit out the Stars’ second training session as a
precaution after picking up a knock in training on Monday.

Ghana coach Milovan
Rajevach has revealed little about his starting line up ahead of Sunday
but it would be a major tactical switch if Asamoah does not play behind
in form striker Asamoah Gyan.

Interestingly also,
Milovan Rajevach is the second Serbian coach to lead a team against his
home nation, after Blagoje Vidinic watched his Zaire side mauled 9-0 to
Yugoslavia in 1974. He would be looking forward to prove a point with
his African side.

World Cup head-to-head

Ghana has never faced Serbia, or the former Yugoslavia, at the World Cup.

All-time head-to-head Games played: 1 Yugoslavia: 1 win, 0 losses, 0 draws Ghana: 0 wins, 1 loss, 0 draws

Goals: Yugoslavia 3, Ghana 1 Last match: Ghana faced the former Yugoslavia in Seoul, South Korea in 1997 and lost

Previous Appearances at the world Cup

Serbia: 10 Ghana: 1

Nigeria’s Sport
Minister, Ibrahim Isa Bio, has sounded a note of warning to Nigeria
Football Federation (NFF) officials to focus on seeing the Super Eagles
soar in South Africa and not using the World Cup for re-election
campaigns.

In a letter to the
Federation, Bio said, “Our focus is to ensure that our darling team,
Super Eagles do well in South Africa and not to be concentrating on
election issues.

“The paramount
objective of the federation should be to ensure that Eagles perform
well in South Africa, while election matter should not come up during
the campaign for now,” he said.

The tenure of the
current NFF board led by Sani Lulu ends after the World Cup and Lulu
has already indicated his willingness to remain at the helm of affairs
in Nigeria football administration. The election into the board will
hold in August.

The incumbent board
has already been accused of taking all chairmen of state federations to
South Africa in order to secure their votes when they return. This move
have been criticised by aspirants to the NFF board and has informed
calls that the government should help monitor the election in order to
ensure transparency

Since assuming office in April, Bio has twice intervened in the affairs of NFF yielding positive results both times.

It would be recalled that is was the minister’s intervention that
ensured the substandard hotel initially booked for the Eagles in South
Africa was changed before the Mundial. He was also instrumental in the
provision of airlines to the team after the earlier arrangement made by
the federation failed.

If any dope cheats
or tokers are among the footballers taking part in the World Cup, they
will have to get past Dr. Pieter van der Merwe and his team at the
South African Doping Control Laboratory.

The facility at the
University of Bloemfontein’s Department of Pharmacology will analyse
urine samples taken from players after each of the tournament’s 64
games.

“We are the only
one in South Africa doing this work and so we were asked by FIFA to do
it for the World Cup,” van der Merwe told Reuters during a visit to the
lab.

The World Cup’s
most infamous doping scandal was in 1994, when Argentina’s Diego
Maradona was sent home from the United States after failing a test for
ephedrine doping.

Maradona, who is in
South Africa this time round as Argentina’s manager, has claimed that
the negative result was due to a power drink.

Scotland’s Willie
Johnston also took an early flight home from Argentina in 1978 after he
was found to have taken a banned stimulant. He also said it was
inadvertently taken.

“Negative results would be nice. The chances that we’ll have a positive are slight. We’ll just have to see,” van der Merwe said.

FIFA regulations
demand that two players from each side give a urine sample, and if
requested, a blood sample, after every game. It can also carry out spot
checks.

The samples will be
delivered to the lab in this city on the plains of central South Africa
by road. FIFA wants to get the results back within 24 hours.

“It’s going to be hard. We’ll be working right through to get the results,” van der Merwe said.

Clean sheets

He has a team of eight assistants, who will work off the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) list of banned substances.

The samples are first taken to a preparation room, then passed through an array of machines for computer analysis.

According to FIFA,
anabolic steroids are not a big problem in world soccer, showing up in
only 0.3 per cent of tests. Use of recreational drugs such as cocaine
and marijuana show up more frequently. But of 33,000 tests done by FIFA
in 2008, only 75 led to sanctions, FIFA said in a statement.

The test results
during the World Cup will be highly secret. It will be up to FIFA, not
the laboratory, to announce any problems, van der Merwe said.

The South African
scientist has a lot of experience in such work for big sporting events.
His laboratory handled the doping tests for the 1995 Rugby World Cup,
which was famously won by South Africa who were also hosts then.

It also worked on the soccer Confederations Cup held in the country last year, when the tested players all had clean sheets.

“That was a nice
trial run working with FIFA, he said.” It’s a big honour for the
university, and we’re looking forward to be part of the World Cup.

“I like sport in general — but I’m more a rugby fan,” he added.

With one match
already played at the ongoing World Cup, the Super Eagles know that
Thursday’s match against Greece is one they need to win to remain on
course to realise the semi-final target handed to their coach, Lars
Lagerback, by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Nigeria and Greece
are meeting for the second time at the World Cup. Their first clash
came sixteen years ago in Boston during the 1994 World Cup in the USA.
Nigeria ran away 2-0 winners courtesy of goals from Finidi George and
Daniel Amokachi.

That was almost two
decades ago. Today’s Eagles lack the talent and daring of the 1994
squad. Unlike their 1994 counterparts, who went into that year’s
tournament on a high after their triumph at the Africa Cup of Nations
in Tunisia, the present Eagles almost did not make it to the
tournament. They have Tunisia, which slipped up at the last minute, to
thank for their presence in South Africa.

That said, the
present Eagles are not lacking in firepower. Upfront, they have enough
arsenal to cause any defence sleepless nights. In Obafemi Martins and
Yakubu Aiyegbeni, they have two strikers who, under the right
conditions, can wreck a team. Indeed, the Eagles’ qualification for
this mundial was sealed courtesy of Martins’ brace against Kenya at the
Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi.

In South Africa,
the Eagles have a point to prove. Their last outing at the World Cup
was eight years ago at the Korea/Japan edition where they failed to
qualify for the second round. This time round, their aim is to better
that record; and having being handed a semi-final target by the NFF,
they know that to have a chance of achieving that target.

The present Greece
squad like Nigeria’s, lack the robustness of their 2004 squad. Again,
like the Super Eagles, their qualification came at the last minute. The
team, coached by Otto Rehhagel, nicked qualification after a
hard-fought battle in Donetsk where they beat hosts Ukraine 1-0.

Cracking a hard nut

The team under
Rehhagel’s tutelage has become noted for their stinginess at the back.
A compact defensive unit, they can frustrate even the most attacking
side like they did at Euro 2004. What this means that Super Eagles
attackers may have their work clearly cut out. That said, it must be
noted that, with the improvements witnessed under Lagerback, the Eagles
may not allow themselves to be fazed by the Greeks’ resolute defending.

But it is not only
the defence of the Greeks that the Eagles should be worried about. In
Theofanis Gekas, they have a lethal weapon. The striker, who notched up
ten goals during the teams qualifying campaigns for the World Cup, may
be the Eagles undoing if not properly monitored.

Eagles coach,
Lagerback will have to instruct his defenders to pay close attention to
the diminutive forward if his World Cup plans are not to thrown into
disarray.

Every footballer
aspires to feature at the World Cup. For these footballers, it is the
zenith of their respective careers regardless of how successful or
otherwise it is, after all, there are numerous examples of great
players who never got the chance to strut their stuff on football’s
biggest stage.

So it is so
disappointing when after giving their best in ensuring that their
country’s flag gets to be hoisted at the World Cup, these players end
up not going to the tournament for one reason or another, ranging from
a dip in form, change in coaching personnel resulting in the player in
question not found suitable by the team’s new handler, or in the worst
case scenario, as a result of an injury.

Such was the case
of players like England’s David Beckham, the Three Lions’ most capped
outfield player who ruptured his Achilles tendon playing for his loan
club AC Milan in March, as well as Nigeria’s Ikechukwu Uche, who
suffered a ligament injury that kept him out for six months before
staging a return a few weeks to the end of the season by which time it
was already too late to impress new Super Eagles handler, Lars
Lagerback, of his readiness to feature in South Africa.

For some players
however, their injury status isn’t enough to rule them out of the
tournament but will they recover on time to make some sort of
contribution to their side’s World Cup aspirations?

Bounced from the party

Michael Ballack:

The influential
German captain would have been making his third World Cup appearance
but for the unfortunate ankle injury he picked up while playing for his
erstwhile club Chelsea in last month’s FA Cup final win over
Portsmouth. And with age no longer on his side, the last may have been
seen of the German midfield general on the international stage.

Nani:

The Portuguese
winger was ruled out of the tournament on as recently as last Tuesday,
after hurting his collarbone while attempting to do the spectacular in
training in Lisbon. His disappointment was, however, a blessing for
Benfica’s Ruben Amorim who subsequently took the place of the
Manchester United star in Portugal’s World Cup squad.

Rio Ferdinand:

The England
captain’s dream of becoming the first Englishman since Bobby Moore to
lead the Three Lions to World Cup glory was brought to an abrupt end
right there in South Africa after an innocuous challenge from teammate
Emile Heskey in his country’s first major training session penultimate
Friday resulted in a knee injury for the Manchester United star whose
place was subsequently taken by Tottenham’s Michael Dawson, and who
doesn’t look likely to ever get to feature at another World Cup
tournament.

John Obi Mikel:

So much was
expected of Mikel at the World Cup but his inability to recover fully
from an injury he picked up quite a while ago on club duty for Chelsea
means he will have to wait another four years before gracing the World
Cup. But he’s young and can look forward to enjoying a holiday that
will most likely see him having anxious moments in front of his TV set
wondering how things would have gone for the Super Eagles had he not
voluntarily withdrawn himself from the squad.

Michael Essien:

Another Chelsea
player who will be missing at the World Cup is Essien whose absence is
sure to leave a huge vacuum in the Black Stars who are seeking to
emulate their performance from four years ago when they made it to the
second round of the tournament before losing to Brazil. The workaholic
midfielder picked up a knee injury at the African Nations Cup in
January and has failed to recover in time.

Lassana Diarra:

South Africa 2010
was going to be Diarra’s opportunity to confirm his credentials as one
of France’s best players but he won’t be featuring at the World Cup
after being told he needed a prolonged rest, no thanks to intestinal
problems which began while scaling a glacier with his teammates during
France’s week-long training camp in the French Alps last month.

Miroslav Karhan:

Karhan is
Slovakia’s most capped player but a hamstring injury meant he won’t be
playing any part in his country’s debut World Cup appearance in South
Africa.

Gate crashers

Arjen Robben:

Robben sustained a
thigh injury in last Saturday’s 6-1 drubbing of Hungary in Amsterdam
and looked set to miss the World Cup until news emerged that he will be
okay for the tournament but not in time for tomorrow’s opener against
Denmark. Looks set to miss his team’s opening World Cup match against
Denmark due to a hamstring injury.

Didier Drogba:

The next World Cup
in Brazil is too far off for Drogba so he planned on making South
Africa 2010 a memorable tournament for himself and his nation.

Fans of the
Elephants must have thought they will be prosecuting the tournament
without their talismanic captain after he broke a bone in his forearm,
but the fearsome striker underwent a successful surgery and may only
get to miss Cote d’Ivoire’s opening game against Portugal.

Fernando Torres:

The Spanish striker
missed a considerable amount of last season’s campaign as a result of
injuries and underwent a knee operation in April which appeared to put
his participation at the World Cup in doubt. But the Liverpool striker
came on as a substitute in Spain’s recent 6-0 thrashing of Poland in
Murcia and looks set to play a key role, as the Spaniards seek to
finally secure a first ever World Cup title.

Andrea Pirlo:

The influential
midfielder was initially expected to miss the entire tournament after
hurting his calf in penultimate Thursday’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of
Mexico. But the latest news is that he will only get to miss Italy’s
opening game against Paraguay and should be available for the defending
champions’ remaining fixtures.

Harry Kewell:

Kewell has hardly
played since December because of a troublesome groin injury but the
injury-prone winger has been training with the rest of the Australian
team in South Africa and, barring any unforeseen injury, should play a
key part in Australia’s quest to go one better than the second round
appearance they achieved four years ago in Germany.

Germany will today
commence their quest for a first world title in 20 years with a game
against Australia in Durban in an encounter the European side are
expected win.

Not that the
Australians are football paperweights; far from that. But after a
respectable showing at the last World Cup, the football world probably
knows everything the Socceroos are capable of.

“I think we
surprised a lot of teams at the last World Cup. Obviously it’s
difficult a second time around,” recalled Harry Kewell who was one of
the stars of the Aussie team in Germany four years ago when they made
it to the second round before losing to eventual champion Italy 1-0
after a disputed injury-time penalty.

Now, opponents are
“a lot more wary of the players we have, everyone knows the players
individually,” the 31-year-old forward said before adding, “I’m quite
sure now a lot more teams have focused on what we’re capable of doing,
and, yeah, it’s going to be very difficult for us.” It sure looks set
to be a difficult game for the Australians especially if the likes of
Lukas Podolski and Marko Marin have a good day. Both players are
expected to operate from the wings in coach Joachim Low’s favoured
4-2-3-1 formation with Podolski on the left wing and either Marin or
Mesut Oezil on the right.

Klose or Cacau

Although it remains
uncertain whether Low will stick to Miroslav Klose, the top-scorer at
the last World Cup, as his point man, or the Brazilian born Cacau. Just
like the point man, the wingers are also expected to play a key role in
the German team..

“I think the play from the wings will be dead important, that is our game,” said Marin.

“The Australians
will be playing deep and it will be important to ‘tear them apart’, so
to speak, by putting balls in from the wing.

“It is no problem having a lone striker up front, we just have to make sure he is well fed with possession.”

After twenty four years in the doldrums, the Desert Foxes return to the World Cup taking on Slovenia in today’s opening fixture.

This will be the
first international game between the countries. A must win for both
sides, the Algerian coach, Rabah Saadane, says he will bench the side’s
captain Yazid Mansouri for the team’s World Cup opener because his form
is not good enough.

Injury troubles
have certainly wobbled the Algerian camp and a poor run of recent form,
including a harsh 3-0 loss to an average Republic of Ireland and a
slender 1-0 victory over the United Arab Emirates, does not bode well
for a side that many view as Group C’s whipping boys and term as only
making up the numbers.

Algeria and
Slovenia made their way to the World Cup via play-offs; while Algeria
edged out bitter neighbours Egypt to secure a place, Slovenia made it
to South Africa eliminating the highly tactical Russians at the
playoffs.

Both teams are not willing to stop there as they hope to make impact at the World Cup by at least moving into the next round.

Wolfsburg
midfielder Karim Ziani is arguably the most gifted player available in
the Algerian team and has plenty to prove after a poor domestic season
following his big money move from Marseille.

Slovenia would be
counting on Milivoje Novakovicto help do the damage. Novakovic has
already set a target of reaching the second round for himself and
believes his team can start out well against Algeria Defensively, the
Slovenians has proved they could be very solid, conceding only 4 goals
in 10 games counting including the playoffs games.

For opposite part,
the Algerians have shown their limits at the back-line slumming to
heavy defeats against Serbia (0-3) against Egypt (0-4) amongst many
others.