Ghana
Germany 2006 was Ghana's first World Cup appearance, having finished first in the African qualifying group 2. They proved they were no pushovers when they beat favourites for the group, South Africa, 3-0 in Kumasi. Later, they beat them in South Africa as well to secure qualification.
Ghana World Cup profile continues below
Midway through the qualifying stages, the Portuguese born Mariano Barreto, suddenly left Ghana to manage Maritimo, but in late 2004, four months later, Rotomir Dujkovic was appointed to replace him. The Serbian has a good track record in Africa but lacks experience at the highest international level.
The three Ghanaian players who do play at top European clubs are Essien, Appiah and Muntari for Chelsea, Fenerbahce and Udinese respectively. Ghana has good team spirit but they couldn’t have got this far without these three.
Essien is the most expensive African ever with his £24.4m move to Chelsea from French club Lyon.
Ghana are ranked 50th in the world and they lack experience against the top international teams. They have been placed in a tough group with Italy, Czech Republic and USA, so getting to the second round would be a good achievement.
Ghana lost to Italy 2-0 in the first game of the tournament, however they beat the Czech Republic 2-0 in their second match in a much better display. After beating USA in their third game, Ghana qualified for the last 16 and a match against Brazil.
Ghana football legend Abedi 'Pele' Ayew hailed his country's win over the USA as "history in the making". Ghana are the only African team to reach the World Cup 2006 second round.
Unfortunately for the African side they were unable to recover from an early Ronaldo goal and eventually lost to Brazil 3-0.
Ghana Squad:
Player Club Position Caps Goals
S Adjei MS Ashdod G 30 0
R Kingston Ankaraspor G 32 0
G Owu AshantiGold G 6 0
I Ahmed Randers Freja D 10 0
Eric Addo PSV Eindhoven D 5 0
S Kuffour Roma D 58 3
H Mohamed King Faisal D 1 0
J Pantsil Maccabi Tel Aviv D 20 0
E Pappoe Hapoel Kfar Saba D 26 0
D Quaye Hearts of Oak D 7 0
I Shilla Asante Kotoko D 1 0
S Appiah Fenerbahce M 41 11
Derek Boateng AIK Solna M 11 3
H Dramani Red Star Belgrade M 7 0
M Essien Chelsea M 16 3
J Mensah Rennes M 32 0
S Muntari Udinese M 15 4
Otto Addo Mainz M 13 1
H Sarpei Wolfsburg M 7 0
Asamoah Gyan Modena F 11 7
Matthew Amoah B. Dortmund F 15 7
R Pimpong FC Copenhagen F 3 0
A Tachie-Mensah St Gallen F 5 0
Ghana World Cup profile by Ben Rosenbaum
