Portugal and Ghana were both eliminated from the World Cup with the Seleccao winning 2-1 in a pulsating match against the Black Stars in Brasilia.
The Seleccao netted the opening goal thanks to an own goal from Ghana defender John Boye while the Black Stars reacted well as Asamoah Gyan scored the equalizer in the early stages of the second half to become the highest African goal scorer at the World Cup. Ghana’s hopes of advancing to the next round were crushed as Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 50th goal for Portugal to give his side a 2-1 win.
Paulo Bento’s side made five changes to the side that drew to the USA. William Carvalho came into the defensive midfield role while Miguel Veloso replaced the injured Andre Almeida as a left back. Pepe returned from suspension to retain his place in the starting line up at the expense of Ricardo Costa while Ruben Amorim replaced Raul Meireles.nEder featured instead of the injured Helder Postiga.
Kwasi Appiah made two changes to his starting line up from the game against Germany. With Sulley Muntari and Kevin Prince Boateng suspended indefinitely by the Ghana Football Association, Agyemang Badu and Abdul Waris replaced them in the starting line up.
The game began in a scrappy fashion with neither side able to take control of possession while committing too many fouls. Portuguese captain Cristiano Ronaldo had a chance to open the scoring on two occasions in the first twenty minutes with one of them coming from an audacious clip that looped over the crossbar while the other came from a set piece parried away by the Ghana custodian, Fatau Dauda.
Ghana reacted to this threat imminently as Gyan forced a good save from the Portuguese keeper, Beto. The Black Stars could not capitalize on their many set pieces in the first half either. Midway through the first half, Ghana moved with a lot more intent than Portugal to score the opening goal. However, the Seleccao would take the lead at the expense of Boye as the defender’s poor clearance ballooned over his head into his own net.
Ronaldo brought out another save from the Ghana keeper towards the closing stages of the first half while Amorim went close to giving the Seleccao a two goal cushion with his shot hitting the side netting. The first half came to an end with Portugal leading by a solitary goal. Both the sides made no changes to their side at half time. Ghana started the second half promisingly and just as in the first half, looked comfortable in possession but without any penetration.
Just after Thomas Mueller had put Germany ahead against USA in the other group fixture, Ghana equalized in their game through Gyan as he met a cross from Kwadwo Asamoah. The African side continued to push for the lead but Waris headed wide with the goal at his mercy. The Seleccao made two changes during the second half with Silvestre Varela and Vieirinha replacing Moutinho and Eder. The Black Stars also made two changes by the same stage as Jordan Ayew and Afriyie Acquah came in at the expense of Waris and Mohammed Rabiu.
As both sides looked to take the lead, they also seemed vulnerable defensively. Late in the game, Ghana conceded a very poor goal as Dauda parried the ball into Ronaldo’s feet and the two time Ballon D’or winner tapped in to give Portugal the lead.
Wakaso Mubarak replaced Andre Ayew and he nearly equalized for Ghana within seconds after coming on, but the Rubin Kazan midfielder drilled his shot wide. Beto injured himself as he stretched to save Mubarak’s shot and he was replaced by Eduardo.
Ronaldo missed three goal scoring opportunities in the closing moments to give his side a hope to advance into the knock out stages before an enthralling game finally came to an end with Portugal ahead. However, both the sides were eliminated as Germany defeated USA by a margin of only one goal in Recife.
Portugal ended their World Cup in the third position in Group G with four points and Ghana finished with one point at the bottom of the group.
