Freiburg

Zakaria Alhassan: Ghana hoping for second place in the World Cup group.

The draw for the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa put Germany and Ghana in the same group. Zakaria Alhassan from Tamale in North Ghana is presently in Freiburg as guest journalist in the scope of a Goethe-Institut exchange programme. He is confident that Ghana’s national team, also called the Black Stars after the design of the national flag, can make it to the second round of the tournament.

While some are certain that the Stars are capable of upsetting the three-time world champion, others have ruled out any chances of Ghana beating Germany in the group matches considering the German team’s experience and skills in international football.

Ghana and Germany are billed to face each other on 23 June at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg. A number of Ghanaians, according to an Internet investigation, believe that Germany will qualify in this group. “We are only hoping that we will be able to overcome the might of Australia and Serbia to join Germany in reaching the next round,” Ken Frances said in a contribution to a radio discussion in the Ghanaian capital city of Accra. Another contributor, Alhaji Inusah, on the other hand is optimistic about Ghana’s chances of topping the group, as he said “because we are capable of beating Germany when we meet them,” adding that Ghana has good and seasoned players who, like their German counterparts, ply their trade in top-notch European football; he is therefore not sceptical of the ability of the West African country to upset Germany.

During the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Ghana was the only African country to make it to the second round after beating the Czech Republic and the United States, to then be stopped in its tracks by Brazil. From this group, even German football legend Franz Beckenbauer tips Ghana to qualify alongside Germany due to its added advantage of playing the tournament on African soil. The retired Ghanaian star player Anthony Yeboah, who was twice joint top scorer in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1990s, advises the Black Stars to avoid complacency. In an interview in Accra, he called on the national players to focus on their training and their strong opponents in the group.