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USA’s Dempsey was the first to threaten the Ghanaian goal keeper in the 5th minute, but his shot was caught by the keeper. There was a counter offensive immediately by the Black stars, which led to Prince Boateng doing a solo from his own half of the field, and he finally unleashed a grounder with his left foot to produce the first goal of the match.
Ricardo Clark got the first yellow card of the game in the 7th minute for his rough tackles. In the 12th minute, Prince Boateng ballooned the ball over the bar. The second yellow card for USA was given to Cherundolo Steve for bringing down Andre Ayew in the 17th minute.
Ghana had a corner kick in the 26th minute but it went straight to the goal keeper. Asamoah K. was brought down in the USA’s 18 yard box for what looked like a penalty, but the centre referee waved ‘play on’. USA got a corner kick in the 43rd minute but nothing came out of it. At the end of the first half, the Black Stars were leading by a 1-0.
In the 58th minute, Asamoah Gyan failed to score with Andre Ayew’s corner, which got wasted. The Yankees mounted pressure on the Ghanaian defense. In the 61st minute, Jonathan Mensah brought down Dempsey and was issued a yellow card by the centre referee; a penalty was awarded in favour of USA. The penalty which was neatly taken by Donovan, sent the Black Stars’ goal keeper the wrong way for an equalizer.
In the 72nd minute, Hans Sarpei was replaced by Addy; and in the 74th minute, Asamoah Gyan’s header narrowly missed the post and sailed freely across the goal line for a goal kick to the Americans. In the 76th minute, Donovan kicked Prince Boateng on the right thigh, which eventually led to his substitution. Andre Ayew got a yellow card at the dot of 90 minutes. With scores at 1-1 at full time, the match had to go into extra time.
The Africans came back more purposeful in the extra time and played like people who were really hungry for victory. Asamoah Gyan eventually stole the show in the 3rd minute of extra time; as he struggled in between two defenders, he managed to maintain his balance and was able to strike hard at the ball with his left foot for his team’s winning goal.
In the 6th minute of the extra time, Dempsey’s shot was deflected for a corner kick. Ghana also got more corner kicks in the 9th and 22nd minutes respectively, while USA got one in the 24th minute of the extra time.
Donovan’s free kick was punched out by Ghanaian goalie in the 19th minute of the extra time, while Gomez’s shot went wide in the 29th minute. Ball possession was 50% - 50%. The Black stars had about 6 corner kicks while the Yankees had about 4. Ghana is the only African team to reach the quarter finals stage this year. Uruguay became the first team to reach the quarter finals stage after beating South Korea 2-1.
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