I arrived early to watch Australia vs Brazil on the Stadium Screen, but the gates only opened at 6pm. I met a guy from Germany and he was telling me about the Westfalen-Stadion, which opened early, and stayed open until late and also had it's own train station. Well the transport at the SFS I cannot complain about but the opening and closing hours could be lengthened a bit. It also gave me a chance to try out my rusty German skills, he asked me if I was Italian...I mean really. Here is how the teams lined up for the second semi-final. England : 13 David Watson, 2. Steve Watson, 3. David Unsworth, 4. Marvin Harriott, 5. Ian Pearce, 7. Chris Bart-Williams, 8. Darren Caskey, 10 Jamie Pollock, 11. Alan Thompson, 15 Julian Joachim, 18. Anthony Hughes. Ghana : 1. Ben Owu, 2. Emmanuel Asare, 5. Isaac Asare, 6. Mohammed Gargo, 8. Nii Odartey Lamptey, 9. Augustine Ahinful, 11. Emmanuel Duah, 13. CK Akonnor, 14. Osei Kuffour, 15. Ransford Banini, 18 Daniel Addo Referee : Armando Perez Hoyos (Colombia) Crowd : 21069 Despite England getting a shot at goal in the first minute, a very long shot, it was Ghana who made the running. Ghana gave a wonderful display of one touch football, making pretty passing patterns which the English players could do little more than watch. England for their part looked much better than in the earlier games, which proved that they were getting better with each match and looking to win this one. Nii Lamptey was limping a little early on but continued playing and made a wonderful contribution after running his limp away. Ghana was looking hungrier and more organised. The passing was absolutely superb, several ooh's and aah's from the crowd showed they appreciated the skill on offer. These skills, a combination of a love for the Brazilian style and a German foreign aid program for sports development, more often than not bamboozled the English defence and left them chasing shadows. England adopted an approach similar to that of Russia when they played against Ghana. One of containment, a waiting game for a Ghanaian mistake. However it was England who made a mistake first, though there is credence to the suggestion the Referee was harsh in awarding the penalty to Ghana. Duah, on the right flank, fed the ball to Ahinful who was charging through the penalty area. Ian Pearce seemed to get the ball in his tackle but also clipped Ahinful's ankles in the process, the challenge was from behind. Referee Hoyos had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Ahinful sent the keeper left and the ball right. England were not only unhappy about the goal but also the circumstance in which it came. The English fans under the scoreboard broke out in unrestrained chants of "the referee's a wanker". The fans at that end were a feature of the match. They stood for the whole game, despite the seating facilities, and carried banners, flags, scarves and chanted "Eng-er-land", "here we go" and various other tunes which provided plenty of atmosphere. Jamie Pollock got England's fourth yellow card of the Tournament, the best (or better said lowest) tally of any team competing. Also Darren Caskey had a captain's knock of another kind (cricketing allusion for those unacquainted with the term) when a clearance from Ghana travelled only two metres to hit him square in the face (Ouch!). It wasn't long, only another 12 minutes, until Ghana added another to their tally. Anthony Hughes was rightly judged to have handled the ball which was intended to break the last line of defence, the kick was taken at the left edge of the semi circle on the penalty area and Lamptey touched the ball on into Gargo's path. Gargo blasted the ball into a hole in the English wall and hit the net before David Watson hit the ground. Watson had dived for the ball but couldn't get a hand on it. BOOM! 2-0 England probably felt a lot like Argentina did when Edgardo Codesal brought an end to their spoiling tactics in the WC'90 final. It finally dawned on England that they would need a couple of goals to win this one and began pushing forward, they were often found wanting at the back but visions of glory with 200kph shots and desperate defence made sure Ghana didn't go on with more goals. Wave upon wave of Ghanaian attack battered the English but they held firm in defence, credit must go to them for that alone. The chances at goal for England during the first half were pretty close to nil, and the shots that did come lacked direction, power or both. At this stage it was a case of not if but by how much Ghana would win. David Burnside's motivational speeches must be quite good because England were a changed side after the interval, for what must have been the first time in the tournament they played a game which bore a strong resemblance to entertaining, attacking football. Perhaps working on the adage that losing by 10-0 is just as likely to end your progress as losing 2-0, England looked for goals. As the commentator said at the time "down here they can spot a whingeing Pom from miles away", so blaming the referee for the loss after the match wasn't going to get a lot of sympathy from the locals. After a free kick rebounded off the wall for England, Caskey threaded the ball to Chris Bart-Williams on the left extremity of the penalty area after a flick on header from Pearce. Banini took the Bartmans legs out from under him and Pollock stepped up for the penalty kick which went into the roof of the net. England saw a chance and ran with it, amazing what a goal will do for your confidence. The English fans found new voice and Ghana were beginning to look less composed in the face of the onslaught. A Darren Caskey free kick from near the touchline was crossed in and Steve Watson was unfortunate not to have got a more decisive touch to the header. As it was it only went a metre or so wide of the goal. Ghana were also busy trying for a goal but couldn't quite get an oppertunity which didn't involve one or two defenders in the way of a shot at goal. On the occasions they did it was unable to better David Watson. Isaac Asare found this out the hard way when Watson fell to his left to stop, and hold cleanly, a powerful drive from Asare. The unfortunately named Nicky Butt of Manchester United replaced David Unsworth of Everton, the latter being a little knocked about but evidence suggests the more attacking Butt was favoured over the defender Unsworth becuse of Englands predicament. The move almost yielded instant success, when a typically long throw from Steve Watson was returned to him by the Bartman and Watson crossed it into a packed penalty area. Hughes had the ball taken off his head by the keeper and Butt followed up with a header which went just over the bar. From my vantage point it looked as if it had gone in, but general reaction told me I was seeing things. Not long after a corner by England saw them with the best chance yet at equalising. The corner was taken short and the Ghanaians pulled away to try to catch the English offside from the subsequent cross. Bart-Williams was left alone on the penalty spot or thereabouts, chested the ball and swung his leg at the ball as he fell away. The shot hit the crossbar. Ghana was claiming offside, Bartman probably knew he had tried to hit the ball to hard and rushed the shot when he had more time to control the ball. Burnside was having a fit on the sideline, the players wisely holding their hands to their ears as if they couldn't hear. It was getting late in the match and Ghana, on one of their attacks forced England to make a mistake. The ball was played the Ahinful by a teammate but before it reached him Ian Pearce slid to tap the ball back to the rushing keeper, who then picked it up. Backpass. An IFK was given only a metre or so inside the area and left of centre. Lamptey rolled the ball to Gargo who was unable to emulate his earlier success and kicked the ball over the bar, not troubling Watson at all. In the final minutes both sides looked for goals, England to force extra time, Ghana to put the result beyond doubt. Julian Joachim was alone when he tried to put the ball in from a tight angle, which didn't trouble Ben Owu, Ghana also giving Watson a few grey hairs. In the end, after several minutes of time added on, Ghana did the celebrating, England contemplating their match against Australia for third place. Had England played the first half as they did the second the match would have been quite different. During the last 20 minutes or so of the match there was a guy, who spoke with a northern English accent, who sat himself right behind David Burnside. He sent forth a stream of non-stop abuse at David with such gems as "Where Graham Taylor, the maestro?" and " you guys can't string together three passes, they have made 6...7....8". This obviously got to Burnside because he turned around and pointed to the large English support under the scoreboard. Then the reserves, notably the second string keeper, let this stranger know what they thought "shut yer gob, stupid". Ah there was disenchantment all-round. Just as an aside, after the match I met a guy who was part of the crowd under the scoreboard. Nice guy, eventhough he wore a Manchester United shirt. Apparently he is in Australia for a year "to see the sights" and believe it or not this was the first football match he ever attended. Anywhere. The irony of it all. He said England "played like shit" though he conceded that "the second half was better". Another thing that surprised me was that one of the first questions he asked was where I worked. Unusual I thought but hey I've got no secrets, is this important to know or was he struggling to find subject matter? The guy, I know not his name, said that the crowd he was in gave him an incredible feeling. The chants, songs and cheering was so loud and enthusiastic I can hardly blame him. I might have joined them but I was favouring Ghana. Ghana 2 (A Ahinful pk 12) - England 1 (J Pollock pk 49) (M Gargo 24)