Serbia vs Ghana

Ah the Black Stars of Ghana. Ghana played in two of the better matches of the first round in 2006, vs Italy and vs Czech Republic. They were similarly good to watch here: tough, committed, quick and bold. I particularly enjoyed watching Annan, a tiny little midfielder who made up in reducers what he lacked in height. He made a formidable pairing with Kevin Prince Boateng, who will be looking to add more names to his list of players he "tackled" out of the WC judging by the evidence of his two terrible tackles inside five seconds early in the game.

Ghana left out Muntari and Appiah and still had a bright midfield, with Ayew looking menacing. Whilst Asamoah Gyan destroyed my predictions of him not scoring by burying the wining penalty, he should have had a hat-trick.

Serbia were pretty dire, as I had predicted they would be. There's always an Eastern European team that are talked up out of qualifying, and disappoint when they get through: in this case, as it was 4 years ago, it is Serbia. Nikola Zigic was his usual big shitty self, and the lads on the wings who had been highly spoken of were pretty nondescript.

I enjoyed the vuvuzelas for once, since they did not seem to limit the singing and cheering: there was a decent atmosphere here, and the scenes at the end of the game were great. I enjoyed this game a lot, so it gets a Liquid Football rating.